Retsu's Folly
by nuhuh
Summary: It all goes wrong when Dumbledore gives Harry the choice to go back and fight Voldemort or move on. Harry is taken before he can make that choice and is thrown in an unexpected afterlife. Now he is on a mission to fight his way back to his own world.
1. Chapter 1

_**Retsu's Folly**_

A.N. Set 110+ years before current Bleach time. You shouldn't need to know Bleach to read this. Now finally edited by Vorpal. Many thanks to him.

_**00000**_

Rukongai, that's what they call this place. I never expected my next great adventure would be like this: a place so full of misery and strangeness. It wasn't the first time I cursed myself; I shouldn't have waited so long to decide what I wanted when Dumbledore had asked if I wanted to take the train to move on or go back to fight Voldemort. I had known something was wrong as soon as the two doors made of twisted human skeletons had opened to take the part of Voldemort's soul inside me. And after that shock there was only darkness.

Rain tapped on the roof of the inn while I waited under its awning for the storm to pass. Others were huddled near me, but kept themselves away from the warm light pouring out of the inn's doors. We didn't want the owner to see us making free use of his awning. Nothing was free in Rukongai and little was to be had. A warm place, dry shelter, morsels of stolen food were what we lived for day to day. It was a wretched place.

I often wondered if those terrible looking gates had pulled me inside them like they had Voldemort's soul. Was I in Hell? Would I run into the murderer of my friends and family again? Bitterness and hunger squatted in equal measure in my gut. I had done enough, I deserved better than whichever circle of Hell Rukongai was a part of.

At first I searched for familiar faces; I asked if people knew of Dumbledore. I thought surely even in the afterlife they would know _him_. Most people didn't even know who they were before they got to Rukongai; some people only knew Rukongai, and many died in Rukongai. I didn't believe this really could be the afterlife. I didn't think this was where my mother and father were when I had summoned them with the Death Stone. What happened to the choice Dumbledore had given me?

I stared out at the rain with flat eyes. Everyone looked the same; you didn't need mirrors in Rukongai. We all had the same slack faces, mean lines, and broken lips. Everyone said the same things, how life was shit, how everyone was a crook, and how wonderful it would be to be a death god. But right then under the awning it was too cold and wet to crow on about who had it the worst; we were just trying to get through the night, jealously protecting our few inches of ground under the shelter.

Death gods - the only evidence that I might actually be in the afterlife instead of stuck in some desperate other reality. I didn't like them; I didn't like thinking I might really be dead, that Rukongai might really be my life. I wanted to escape but others told me that the death gods would hunt me down. There were only two ways out of Rukongai: either you became a death god, or you died again. My first time dying had royally fucked up my life; I wasn't interested in trying out a second time, thank you very much.

When I'd first woken up in some dirty alley that I can't ever hope to find again I didn't understand a word people around me spoke, and they had no idea what I was shouting at them. When I got hungry and tried to look for work I couldn't explain what I wanted. So watching kids in the street I learned to steal. I didn't have my wand; I was powerless mostly, but there were little things I could do without a wand. A little levitation, a little summoning, and once when I had accidentally insulted some local thug I even disapparated. I tried doing that again but I was afraid to splinch myself. So I trained when I wasn't hungry, which was hardly ever.

People wore strange clothes too; they reminded me of pictures I had seen in my world history books when I still used to go to a muggle school. Japanese, I had thought, and wondered for a long time if I had somehow ended up in the magical community of the land of the rising sun. But there were too many people of different races that showed up every day and disappeared the same day for that to be true.

I wanted my magic back. I needed a wand so I could do something to get out. I could fight the fucking death gods who kept us in the slums and leave, go to some other afterlife. Late at night I wondered what had become of Ron and Hermione. Were they mad at me for going to Voldemort alone? Did they make it? Were they lost in Rukongai like me?

Looking back maybe it wasn't too long before I started understanding the language and people starting understanding my words too. I learned soon not everyone was as hungry as me. As poor and worn as they looked most of them weren't going around working hard to make enough to eat. They just wanted money so they could lose themselves in alcohol or buy fancy things. I didn't understand it. If they just ate to pass the time they could give the food to me! I needed it!

I had to be careful; sometimes people cringed away from me when I passed them. At times they looked terrified and would run away. There was something about me that wasn't right and there were those in Rukongai that didn't like whatever that was. I had to start moving around, because if I stayed in one place too long they would always come for me with crude weapons. It wasn't always so, but it was never too long I would pass a stranger who would stare at me in wide eyed fear and rush off. At times it was the same people I had been around for weeks, and then one day without warning they would start falling like flies around me in throes of pain. And then I had to leave, move on to another district, yet another street corner or alleyway.

I started looking for my kind, someone who could explain to me what was going on. Maybe I could find a wand maker. If only I could do magic again. I don't remember how much time passed by but I found no one.

My travels brought me to the inn in this nicer area of Rukongai. There were more merchants here than beggars and thieves. Well, there were still thieves; they just dressed better and fleeced the wealthier people. Paupers like me weren't worth their time. Though there was a different kind of predator here - the merchants kept gangs on hand to keep their streets clean of those like me. They didn't want the death gods, shinigami as they are called in their language, to see the filth from the worst parts of Rukongai. Who would want to spend money in their brothels and gambling houses if we were around? But it was for the shinigami that I was there. I hadn't found a single person like me and the death gods were the only ones I could hope to get answers from.

What I knew of them was filled with ghost stories people in Rukongai told each other. Each story as wild as the next, talking about their unbelievable powers, their ruthlessness, and, of course, their wealth. I was finally in a district they were known to visit frequently across from a gambling house that served them.

I sneezed and cursed the cold rain. If I still had my wand a simple charm would have kept it off of me, another charm would have made me warm even in a blizzard, but there I was as helpless as any muggle. As I waited for the shinigami to leave I busied myself trying to cast magic without a wand. I had seen many people do small charms without the aid of one so I knew it was possible - I myself could summon and levitate things already. When the beggar next to my suddenly slumped I knew my luck had turned for the worse – again. The people I was huddled with were falling to their knees and staring at me with fear. Why did it have to happen when I was so close to finding out more about the shinigami?

Knowing I would attract too much attention I rushed out from under the cover of the awning, pulling a worn burlap cloak around my head and face to hide my features. I took a sharply climbing street to my right and none too soon. I got my first sight of shinigami leaving the gambling house. Dressed in black clothes of the same Japanese style I had seen all over Rukongai they stood on the porch with drawn swords. Idly I thought that there may have been something to the stories of their swords being magical artifacts, but I didn't linger. It was lucky that the street I had taken led up to a temple on a hilltop; it gave me great line of sight on the people below. As I shuffled up, trying not to look like I was running, I glanced back at the black clad swordsmen to make sure they weren't following me. They had fanned out from the building they were in and were talking to the people who had fallen to their knees under the awning. I could only hope that they hadn't seen where I had gone.

I saw two run faster than I thought was possible down other streets, obviously looking for me. Another jumped to the top of the inn to take a look around. The inn was only two stories high but for a woman to just get there in two jumps is incredible. I wondered if they were some sort of lycanthropes and hustled faster to get under the cover of the trees I saw up ahead.

_**00000**_

The night grew old but the Shinigami searched up and down the surrounding area. They brought torches and patrolled in groups of three, but they didn't trouble me much when they came to the temple. It was a rundown, abandoned place. Stone pillars held up a thatched roof that did little to keep the rain out. Water stood in the crevices of the cracked floor. I sat leaning against a wooden beam that had long fallen. My head hung between my pulled up knees, all to make them think I was just another drifter from the fringe parts of Rukongai.

One of them came and nudged me with his foot. "Hey!" He called out in a gruff voice. "Seen anything?"

I shook my head, hoping whatever strange reaction people had around me didn't happen to these Shinigami. The man spat near my feet and groused something about being too tired for the shit. He moved off but was replaced by another from his squad. This was a slighter man and he crouched in front of me.

"It's not safe here right now. There might be a hollow. You should find a place inside somewhere," he said in a gentle voice.

I raised my head to look at him more clearly. "Hollow?" I asked.

The first shinigami laughed rudely. "He's soft in the head, rich kid. Look at him. You think he has a place to stay indoors? Let's move." He was right of course about me not having a place to go, no matter how callous he sounded.

The shinigami in front of me stood up but stayed as if undecided. He reached inside his black robe like clothes and took out a bun which he handed to me. It was still warm somehow. It cut me inside to accept the charity but I was playing the role of a beggar and I was ravenous.

"Thank you," I said. "You're kind."

"Wish I could do more," he said and sounded genuine. I wanted to talk to him, but with the rest of his squad around I couldn't just start asking questions.

Still I needed to know what they were looking for. "What's a hollow?"

"It's a monster. You must be new here. They have a hole in their chests and eats souls. If you come across one, run. Find a shinigami. I have to go," he said and then ran off with that same incredible speed I had seen after his other squad mates.

Left alone again I wolfed down the steaming bun, thanking god for the shinigami. My short encounter with them didn't tell me too much. They looked like regular people except with super physical powers, and apparently had assholes and decent ones like anywhere else. I thought about hollows. Only creature I knew consumed souls were Dementors. I didn't want to be within miles of them if they were in Rukongai. Without a wand I had no defense. Fear gripped me until I reasoned to myself that the shinigami hadn't shown up until people around me had started acting strange.

If I was the reason they were there, then I had nothing to fear. I hoped. I took cold comfort in thinking it was better to be hunted by shinigami than have Dementors on the loose. Fairly soon with my stomach fuller than it had been in days I drifted off to sleep.

_**00000**_

It was several days since my first encounter with the death gods I had heard so many tales of. I didn't think it was smart to go back into town and so went deeper into the forest around the temple. After the temple hill there had been another and one after which flattened out to a plateau. I was living off berries and leaves. My belly ached fiercely but I wanted to put as much distance as I could between myself and the last town.

I found myself walking along the edge of a cliff. I stood sometime looking out from the drop off. At the cliff's foot was civilization and far out I saw a city closed in by a circular wall. From afar I couldn't tell much but it seemed more organized than the rest of Rukongai. I thought I could make out neat rows of buildings and streets.

By then I was dazed with hunger and weakness. I contemplated jumping off the cliff and take my chances of making it all the way down; if it meant being closer to real food. It was tempting but somehow I got myself to trudge near the cliff edge hoping that the land would eventually slope down or I would see a path cut into the side.

At a certain point I couldn't go on anymore and simply sat down, dangling my legs off the edge. I thought I was becoming delirious when I started hearing someone humming but there was no one to be seen. Soon the mystery solved itself. Much further down from me a young woman with a long braid of black hair climbed over the edge. She gave me a dreamy smile and wave. I waved back, more than a little surprised that a svelte woman had climbed the high cliff. She dusted off her clothes, a light green robe of the kind I had seen some women wear in the towns. It didn't look like it would be very comfortable to wear when gamboling over mountains, but neither the woman nor her clothes looked like they had suffered. She waved to me again and humming went into the forest as serene as could be.

I stared after her wondering if she could help me get to the bottom of the cliff. Maybe she knew a way other than climbing down the face. It took me a while to get over being dumbstruck by the entrance of a comely woman. Also I wasn't entirely sure she wasn't just my imagination. By the time I made it to the spot she had entered the woods and she was nowhere to be seen.

I was too tired to be disappointed. I went into the forest hoping to find her. If I had my wand I could have used some simple tracking charms I had learned back in my fourth year. After the TriWizard championship training I knew many spells that would be very useful when trying to get over hurdles while searching for something. At least I still had my luck.

I found her bent over picking herbs and flowers in a small glade. On my trek through the forest the last few days I had seen plants familiar from my Herbology and Potions classes. It looked like she was harvesting them. Relieved I had found her I quickly made my way over, but before I could get there I saw three men holding clubs slip out from behind trees. They were going after her unprotected back.

"Watch out!" I shouted, and before I realized it I apparated between them.

I was disoriented going from being too far to reach her in time to seeing a club being swung at me. I put up my arm to block the way-layer. Pain shot up to my shoulder. I'd felt worse but in my condition it hurt like hell. I punched at him, but swung wide. Another of the three smashed his club in my ribs. It felt as if he broke bones and fell to the ground breathless.

Suddenly the woman was standing before me. I tried to groan out a warning but I was trying to keep from passing out. She caught one man's club singlehanded as if he wasn't a hulking gangster but just a baby. She swung her arm out throwing him many yards from her. The other two rushed her, but she disappeared from their path. In another second she appeared in front of me again. The two low-lives had been thrown away like rag dolls. Even from the ground I could see they were knocked out. Cursed night! I had run into a Shinigami. I couldn't think of anyone else I had seen with that kind of physical strength.

I saw her run to them in that unbelievably fast pace Shinigami were capable of. She put her hand on their heads; where she touched the skin glowed yellow. She looked to me and smiled angelically. "Why, you look like you're about to die. Thank you for coming to my rescue." She continued to beam at me. Was there an edge of insanity to that smile? Maybe. I was dying after all and she looked like she found it quaint.

I just stared at her and took shallow breaths because it hurt too much to breathe. Maybe I passed out at that point but when I was aware of anything outside of pain again she was over me with her hands on my chest. Her eyes were shut with the softest of frowns. As I lay there I thought her skin was very smooth and fair, before long I was blushing, realizing I was staring. It was hard for me to pin her age down. She looked very young, maybe just in her later twenties, but somehow I felt she was older. I put it out of my mind thinking Asians usually looked young for their age, but then I hadn't met too many older Asian women so I wasn't sure. At least I was breathing easier and feeling much less dazed than before.

"You've been very hard on yourself, haven't you? Tut tut," she said opening her eyes. The look in them said that she was disappointed in me.

"Sorry," I said, not knowing why I felt chastised.

"If I am right you are very hungry," she said.

She didn't wait for me to answer. She had me resting against her shoulder and had placed a box of food in my lap. I didn't recognize half the things but I cared little. Merlin, I didn't even mind her holding me up like a child, I was half in love with her by then.

_**00000**_

Unohana Retsu contemplated the boy half in her lap critically. The contact was allowing her to palpate his reiatsu. Despite her calm expression she was perturbed. Not unlike Shinigami, his reiryoku was healing him, but at a rate much faster than she had encountered in anyone. Being the foremost healer of Soul Society she was a master of the mysteries of spiritual power, but what she found in him baffled her. At one moment he seemed to have the utmost control over his reiryoku, so much so that she could hardly find it, and at other times it was a rushing river barely kept from overflowing. She didn't think it was prudent to see how deep that river ran; there were too many inexplicable aspects to it.

She recognized him as the boy she'd seen lazing at the cliff edge. He had seemed worn down to her even from afar and she had planned on going back to check on him after collecting the healing herbs. She hadn't expected to get lost in her errand and even expected less to be attacked. She had sensed the vagabonds, of course, and was going to twist their arms a little to send them on their way. But just as she was about to turn around to give them a scare she had felt an unimaginably oppressive spiritual pressure. In the next moment the boy had simply appeared in front of her to shield her from the men.

He hadn't lasted long; the spiritual pressure of his reiatsu showed itself only for a blink in time. If he had maintained it for a few seconds more those poor men would have collapsed. She hoped his fluctuating reiatsu was only caused by a lack of training, but she was worried how one with so much strength hadn't been noticed yet. As he ate her lunch she felt him get stronger and the tempest of reiatsu inside him calming. She massaged her spiritual power against his to take better measure of it and drew back feeling at one discomfited by and attracted to its rawness.

The boy had fallen asleep while leaning on her. She smiled seeing the weariness melt away from his face to leave something innocent behind. He was so terribly young, she thought to herself. She sighed, allowing herself a moment of frustration when no one was around to see it. This was why her subordinates always accompanied her when she went anywhere in Rukongai. She had a bad habit of collecting strays to heal and feed. Even though her long years had taught her she couldn't help everyone it never assuaged her guilt for leaving the needy to their fates. Climbing mountains and collecting herbs was one solitary activity she had far away from civilization, but she had managed to find herself someone in need of saving.

She knew this one was different than the others. She couldn't simply walk away from him. The criminal gangs in Rukongai were always looking for those with high spiritual power. He had too much reiatsu to be ignored and he was too young to defend himself. If the gangs didn't abuse him for his power he would frighten some shinigami into killing him with his out of control reiatsu. No, Retsu thought, she couldn't leave him behind.

_**00000**_

Unohana Retsu left the boy resting while she collected herbs and plants she had climbed up for. The goons had woken up and after receiving her pleasant smile ran away as fast as they could. Idly she wondered why people were so frightened of her. She did her best to be nice. She finished loading her satchel and got ready to return home.

As she was about to pick the boy she felt a strong reiatsu approaching fast. It was a day for unusual things, she mused. She waited patiently, sensing she could handle whoever was coming. But when the shinigami in all white clothes appeared she was momentarily stunned.

"And what is one of the Zero division doing here?" she asked, surprised by the presence of the Spirit King's guard.

The man had a white veil on his face with the symbol for zero painted on it. Retsu recognized him when he removed it.

"Captain Unohana," he greeted solemnly.

"Sagara-san, it has been many years. You look well," Retsu said, remembering the old shinigami from many years past. She couldn't even recall exactly when he had been promoted from the regular divisions to the very secret and never to be seen Zero division. It was too long ago.

"Did you come across a creature or a being with high reiatsu? We have a report of something appearing in this region," he asked brusquely.

Unohana resisted the urge to chide him for his rudeness. She suspected he was looking for the boy who had attempted to rescue her. She needed to find out more about why, so she stayed cordial. "No, Sagara-san. Maybe it was me you noticed? I was startled by some thugs earlier. Why would the Zero division get involved in hunting something inside Soul Society? That is the work of the Gotei 13. Is this being a threat to the Spirit King?" she asked with as innocent a look as she could.

The shinigami in all white lost his arrogant pose, as if deflated by her questions. He brushed the white stubble on his cheeks while looking undecided. "You were always the most perceptive of us, Captain Unohana. The reiatsu is immense and has shown up in short bursts in many places in Rukongai for several months. I cannot discuss anymore than that. The work of the Zero division is not to be spoken of. I hope you understand." He gave a short bow.

"Of course," said Unohana Retsu, understanding that by not denying what she had said he had confirmed her thoughts. "I am sorry, perhaps it really was me and your…analysts confused me for this being?"

Sagara nodded his white head. "As someone who has seen you in battle, Captain

Unohana, I would never discount your power. Perhaps it truly was you. Though, it would be utterly frightening if there were two of your strength walking Soul Society." He bowed shortly again.

Unohana kept a smile on her face with difficulty. She didn't like how he had changed from patronizing to complimentary. It worried her that he thought he could fool her. Maybe he had forgotten her in all the decades he had been gone.

"Sagara-san" she said sweetly. "I am just a healer."

He snorted, straightening up. "You weren't always, Captain Unohana. Please don't mention you saw me. The business of Zero division is-"

"Secret," she cut him off. "Yes, I know. It was good seeing you Sagara-san, please say hello to our other friends in Zero division. They are gone but not forgotten. Hmm?"

The man nodded, covering his face with the veil again. "Farewell."

Unohana waved after him until he disappeared from her sight. The perfunctory smile dropped from her face once she knew he was gone. She looked at the boy just a little behind her, glad he was hidden by the trees. She had lied to Zero division without thinking much of it because it was a rule of hers to not give up anyone in her care, enemy or friend.

Her plans had to change, she knew. She couldn't simply take the boy with her back to her division like she had planned. Zero division would find out about his presence and the lie she told to protect him. He had tried to save her, no matter how little she needed protection. She smiled warmly, thinking it had been many centuries since anyone had mistaken her for a damsel in distress. She owed her young hero for trying at least. If later it seemed that the Zero division's reason for wanting his head was right, she would do what was necessary, but not before she knew for certain he was an enemy.

With her mind set she left him quietly to collect things for the plan that was forming in her mind.

_**00000**_

It was dreary and dusty. The outlands of Rukongai were in some ways even more wretched than the squalor of the slums in the fringe districts. Cracked earth, twisting thirty trees, and hardly a soul in sight; that was what the outlands were. I slept huddled in a cloak, using my bag for a pillow. Luckily it never rained in the outlands and there weren't any animals either, so there was little need for shelter. Except when it got hot during the days it was awful. The nights were cool and peacefully silent. The sound of wind and the sight of stars at night often soothed me. I think sometimes that helped me find my 'reiatsu' better than any exercise Unohana Retsu taught me. Though she was the one to actually explain to me what is 'reiatsu.'

Meeting her was a miracle; she saved me from starvation and helped me find where I was. The reason people suddenly became fearful of me or became ill around me was because of my spiritual power in this place. She called it 'reiatsu.' Apparently those with strong reiatsu could become shinigami. But she said that anyone with my strength who couldn't control himself was dangerous and there were those who would just chop of my head for fear I'd go evil…or explode. I think she made up the last part, but I believed her anyway.

She brought me from Rukongai to these outlands, telling me that I had to train and meditate and slowly make my way to the Shinigami Academy where I could take an entrance exam. She didn't want me near people or worse other shinigami. I didn't want a beheading so I dealt with the loneliness.

I spent a long time asking her questions about the afterlife. She told me I was in a place called Soul Society; Rukongai was just one part of it. The walled in city I had seen was where the shinigami lived. Their work was to tend to the souls that had died on Earth. I was fascinated and the more I learned from her the more I was convinced the knowledge to escape this wrong afterlife was inside the walled in city called Seireitei. I wanted to go back to Earth and see if I could find my friends again; maybe there were books in Hogwarts about shinigami and the world I was in.

The way to all my dreams lay in becoming a shinigami. And that was why I studied constantly from the books Retsu brought me, and practiced the lessons she'd taught me. I didn't intend to fail the entrance exam to the Shinigami Academy.

Retsu asked me many questions about myself, when I let up about Soul Society. I only told her what I knew after waking up in Rukongai. I'd known that people didn't really remember their pasts and I didn't want her to be suspicious of me. But I don't think I ever did a good job. Whenever I lied to her she'd tell me in her beautifully gentle way that if I disappointed her she would have to hurt me. She seemed really sad at that and I always promised I wouldn't let her down. She'd remind me that I had every reason to trust her, and to my shame I didn't really have an answer to that.

Even then, she believed in me at least a little because I had a hardy cloak, food, and some money all courtesy of her. She would find me every few weeks to check on my progress in meditation and reiatsu control. We would talk long into the night while she trained my reiatsu and told me stories of Soul Society. Despite myself I was excited to become a shinigami to see all the things she talked about.

She was amazed at the little magic I could do and tried to show me what was happening inside me when I was casting magic. I couldn't really follow her but apparently it helped her heal me. I didn't even realize I was injured. She was happy to figure out why my reiatsu felt different to her than any other she'd felt. She enthusiastically taught me the kind of magic she used so I could sense what was happening inside me too. The kind of magic she used is called 'Kidō.' Practicing it was calming my reiatsu, she claimed, so I went on with her lessons. I didn't know any healing spells but the one Tonks used on my nose so it was all new to me. And doing Retsu's magic without a wand was brilliant!

More than anything I was happy I had a friend. She really was a kind girl and very patient teacher. I found out that she was part of the healing corps of the shinigami. There were thirteen divisions, and she was in the one responsible for taking care of the others. I couldn't think of a better fit for her. She was always smiling and sweet, I really couldn't see how anyone would expect her to fight monsters like Hollows. When I said that to her she laughed and joked I didn't want to see her bad side. It became a game between us. She would tell me outrageous battle stories about herself and I'd refuse to believe them. She did have a frightening imagination and it made me uncomfortable how she told her stories of gore and grief with her faint little smile. She _was_ scary, in a lovely sort of way.

She had brought me a sword, a katana. She said that I was getting closer to towns and I would start running into people again. She warned me that they would want to take advantage of me, to try and use me as an enforcer, or just rob me. I didn't need her to tell me the dangers of Rukongai but it was news to me that my high spiritual strength made me a candidate for a criminal.

After taking lunch I sat with the katana unsheathed but couldn't get myself to play with it like I did sometimes when I was bored. I don't know swordplay, but it is fun to pretend at being some great knight. I was losing hope and didn't want to do anything but brood. Even if I became a shinigami the battle of Hogwarts was already over. I couldn't go back to fight Voldemort. I could only hope that my friends had made it somehow. With Professor Dumbledore dead I didn't know if there was anyone who could even kill Voldemort. It was too late either way, whatever was going to happen had already happened, and I was too far away to know. I hated thinking about it; usually I pushed it out of my mind, because it sapped my courage.

I sighed and stood up, ready to continue walking towards the hills I could see in the very far distance. There was a town after the pass between the hills, Retsu had told me. She wanted me to stay there a while and see how I did around other humans. If they noticed my reiatsu I would have to go back to the outlands and train more. I don't think I could take being by myself any longer, making no progress towards the Shinigami Academy. So I was determined despite despairing for my friends to make it.

I wondered if I could learn enough to pass the entrance exam. So far my Kidō studies were going well. The magic was strange with long incantations and it was all wandless. But I was already able to do a few spells wordlessly. I hoped that my Kidō strength would make up for anything I was weak in. Besides Kidō I had to learn the shinigami martial arts, without a teacher that was impossible. I wanted Retsu to teach me but she kept telling me to focus on my reiatsu training. Apparently learning Kidō helped with my reiatsu so she encouraged that. She was happy how fast I was learning her healing spells. But I was worried. There was swordplay 'Zanjutsu,' martial arts 'Hakuda,' demon magic 'Kidō,' and last that incredibly fast way they moved 'Hohō.' She told me to be patient. She didn't understand what was at stake for me. I wanted to be the best, to get the most responsibility, so I could have access to the most information. I didn't want to be a one trick pony.

Frustrated with my situation, I disapparated to a point in the distance. I was becoming much better after Retsu meditated with me and worked on my reiatsu. My reiatsu didn't explode like it used to when I accidentally did magic before. I was learning to move the power around my body, and hold it tightly when I did magic. I disapparated five times in succession, getting closer and closer to the hills. I could have disapparated all the way to how far I could see, but if I got there too fast Retsu would be suspicious. She didn't know about this ability.

I took out the sword and felt a little silly at how cool I felt with it. No one was there to see me so I swung it wildly, disapparating all over the place, pretending I was fighting a dragon again. Soon I was out of my funk and trying new things with my reiatsu. With a lot of concentration I moved it around my body. My skin began to glow. Looking in the reflection of the katana I saw I had gone from soft white glow to shining silver – I thought it meant I was getting better. Summoning a rock to myself I punched it with a Bruce Lee shout. The rock shattered and I laughed. No matter how many times I did that I never got tired of it.

"Harry-san, do you feel manly when you make that noise?" a voice said behind me, scaring me out of my skin.

I whirled with the sword swinging. Unohana Retsu was standing in her black shinigami garb smiling at me sweetly. I felt my face heat up. She laughed and patted my cheek making me feel even more like a child. Honestly, she was only a couple of years older than me but she treated me like a five year old.

"Why don't I ever sense you?" I groused.

"Because you haven't been training hard enough, Harry-san. If you couldn't tell I was coming how will you know when powerful shinigami captain want to sneak up on you?" she asked innocently, putting down her satchel.

I would have been irritated but it was great seeing her. I smiled and said as much. She motioned me to sit down with her characteristic angel smile.

"I see you're glowing, Harry-san. Just so that you know that might give away your high reiatsu level to others," she said conversationally, laying out food she'd brought.

I sighed. "I was practicing, Retsu-chan."

She laughed. "It's been many years since I was a little girl. Maybe you meant to say Retsu-san?"

I was embarrassed; she constantly had to correct me on my manners. I hadn't fully caught on to Japanese honorifics; they made me uncomfortable. "I wish you would just call me Harry, and you're not that old."

She smiled as if I had said something very amusing. As much time as I had spent with her she still managed to be mysterious. I shut my eyes slowly letting go of my reiatsu so it went back inside me, wherever it usually was.

"So, I see you can break things with your reiatsu. Have you made your skin harder with it yet?" she asked, pouring some tea. I looked at the sky, yes, the sun was beating down on us but she still wanted tea.

"I didn't know you could do that," I said, seeing the advantage of that use.

She nodded, motioning me to start eating. It often worked this way; I would eat while she lectured. "Many proficient shinigami do so; it reduces the impact of a hit, but it is useful only against shinigami of lesser power than you. There are other more important things you can do by manipulating your reiryoku. You can be faster, cast Kidō spells, increase strength, like you have, use your sword to its full potential, and…run on air." She smiled.

I stared at her wide eyed. "Run on air?"

"Mhm, like so," she said. In another instant she had jumped straight into the sky and was standing on nothing ten feet above me. She jogged a circle around me playfully leaving me stunned and then came down to earth.

"How?"

She laughed and wiped something from the corner of my lips. She has a knack for embarrassing me, or I just look like an idiot whenever she's around. "I will teach you. You had little control over your spiritual power, Harry-san. But now that I see you can manipulate it a little we can move on. Do you know how to show your reiatsu to frighten people now?" she asked pulling me to the ground and serving me more food.

"I thought you didn't want me to do that," I said between mouthfuls.

"No, I wanted you to control it. Releasing your reiryoku, that's your spiritual power, in that way is very useful. Being a master of your reiatsu will make you rise above average shinigami," she explained. All her terms still confused me but I accepted it all as best I could.

"I still don't understand the difference between reiatsu and reiryoku. Aren't both my spiritual power?" I asked.

She hummed. "They are related, Harry-san. Reiryoku is your power, and reiatsu is a measure of how strongly you use that power. You could be powerful, like you are, but know very little about how to release it. That is how I found you. Aren't you lucky?" she asked, taking a sip from her tea cup.

"I am," I said sincerely. "Thank you, Retsu…err Retsu-kun."

She sighed. "Harry-san, 'kun' is for boys. Perhaps you should just call me Retsu."

"Sorry," I muttered. "I thought 'san' was for boys." Why couldn't I get it right? I was learning new magic, breaking rocks with something called reiatsu I didn't understand, but I always messed up around her.

She laughed hiding her amusement behind her hand. I pretended I was offended but was soon smiling with her.

_**00000**_

Unohana Retsu enjoyed his company. He was so earnest and awkward she couldn't help like him. She was glad she was helping him. She just had to make sure he understood forms of address when he finally came to shinigami academy. She could just imagine the scandal if someone heard him calling her 'Retsu' so familiarly.

He was looking healthier even though he was by himself in the elements. Having enough food and more control over his reiryoku had obviously been good for him. She was still amazed how quickly he was learning healing Kidō from her. It had helped him mould his reiatsu at an immensely fine level, but it seemed it was all instinct to him. She planned on bringing him into her division as soon as he was settled in the academy. It would draw attention to him, but his reiatsu didn't feel the same as the day she had found him and wasn't leaking everywhere. Zero division would have no reason to suspect him. She did feel a little sad as she saw him getting closer to becoming a part of Seireitei. Once he entered the academy she wouldn't be able to hide that she was a captain and oh so many centuries older than him. She liked being treated like a friend, even if it was from a little boy. Sometimes all the respect and deference from her colleagues in the Gotei 13 left her very alone. She vowed to keep the secret from him till it was absolutely necessary he knew. She had become very fond of him and felt protective.

She half listened to him as he told her what he had trained in for the last few weeks, her attention was on the sword she had left with him. She couldn't sense a presence in it. It was as dead as it had been when she left it. She decided that Harry needed a push in the right direction. Maybe expecting him to surprise her every time was unfair.

"Retsu, _Retsu?"_ Harry's voice brought her out of her musings.

"Forgive me, Harry-san, my mind wandered," she said, feeling bad for ignoring him.

He only looked concerned. "Are you alright? You look tired. I can cast the rejuvenation spells on you, if that's okay?" he offered.

Unohana nodded and motioned him over. She was embarrassed to admit that having Harry minister to her in name of his education had fast become a guilty pleasure. She would never have allowed it from her other subordinates and students. But seeing as Harry didn't have anyone else to practice on she was only doing him a service.

She sighed in relief as he put his hands on her back and began working through the Kidō she had taught him. The first step was to see how the patient was injured or ill. The healer moved her reiatsu into the patient looking for pain. For someone like her who was so sensitive to others' spiritual power, just the basic spell was like a massage. She didn't think that Harry was knowingly feeding her his reiryoku. She would have to teach him not to do that during the diagnostic spell…but maybe she'd tell him later. Maybe next week.

It was nightfall when she came out of her meditative state. She had been aware of the signature of Harry's reiatsu throughout. It had improved beyond measure since she'd started teaching him. It was no longer the tempest she had felt the first time she had met him. His strength was still curiously raw even though he had become skilled at wielding his reiatsu. She wondered if it was just the nature of his reiryoku and nothing that needed to be healed. Over the months he had been practicing on her she had felt the discomfort of touching his reiatsu go away; she had become familiar with it. Every shinigami was different, but Harry was just more individualistic than others.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, sounding worn out.

She gave a soft laugh. "I think you overdid it, Harry san. I feel ten years younger. How are you?"

He rolled onto his back and sighed "Hungry."

"You are very talented but you have to learn to conserve your reiatsu. You don't have to send your patient so much of your strength," she said, passing him some fruit.

He stared up at the night sky and looked very content to her. She liked to see him at peace. It was rare to see him happy. Something in his past drove him almost maniacally. She knew he lied to her about what he remembered, but she didn't think it was because he had done something criminal. People from Rukongai always had pasts they didn't want to remember or talk about.

"It just feels good to help. I think I can sense…" he trailed off, frowning.

"What can you sense, Harry-san?" she smiled gently.

"I think I can feel you becoming happier, no, that's not right, maybe just-"

"Peaceful?" she prompted.

"Yeah, that's it!" He smiled taking a bite out of an apple.

Retsu was more pleased than she could express. "That is wonderful. You have the instinct. You will be a great shinigami." Someone of his strength hadn't joined her division in many decades. When trained he could easily outstrip her current lieutenant in power. But more importantly he _felt_ what he did, and there were few Kidō experts who could do that.

He grinned. Retsu was tempted to pinch his cheeks. He looked so young when he was happy. She felt waves of reiatsu come off him, but they were gentle and calming. Yet another thing that made him different. Outside of herself she didn't know of any other shinigami who could calm others by releasing reiatsu, usually the affect was opposite. After many years an old pain surfaced inside her. She wondered if she could have had children, would they have been like the boy.

"Retsu?" he called, jerking her out of her sudden melancholy by being so familiar. She noted again she really _had_ to teach him manners.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think I can become a shinigami captain? To be one of the best?" he asked, looking at her very seriously. She caught the passion and determination in his eyes she always saw during their lessons. She didn't think it was glory that drove him, but she was reluctant to ask what did.

"Well, Harry-san, captains are traditionally at least experts in all four disciplines and master of one amongst the four. So maybe you should start working on your swordplay more," she teased.

He scowled at her. "I don't know how to use a sword, and I don't know martial arts either. You said you'd teach me how to move fast, but how can I learn the other two?"

This was not a new reproach. "Harry-san, I cannot be gone long enough to teach you Zanjutsu or Hakuda. It is your innate talent in Kidō because of which I have been able to teach you so much so quickly. The basic steps of Hohō are simple for someone who has trained his reiatsu to the level you have. You will learn the other two disciplines when you get to the academy," she explained.

"But don't you need to know all four to pass the exam?" he asked.

She nodded. "I hope your talent in Kidō and strong reiatsu will mean they take you anyway. I don't want you to show them the full strength of your reiryoku but enough to impress them." He didn't look happy and in his place she wouldn't have either.

"Retsu, I don't want to fail. Maybe I can go to a town or district where they teach-"

"No," Retsu cut him off, showing her displeasure in a rare moment. "The places that would teach you those skills are too close to the shinigami. You will be noticed. You cannot afford that."

"Why? You said yourself I am doing much better now. I haven't let my reiatsu out of control. There have to be others who are powerful in Rukongai too. Do shinigami kill all of them?" he argued sitting up.

Retsu marshaled her fear for him. He had unknowingly given her an opening to find out something she had wanted to know. "No, but others are not being sought by the Zero division."

He looked bewildered. He had no idea what she was speaking of. She almost sighed in relief. She had been afraid that he would recognize the name and then she wouldn't have been able to ignore whatever bad history he had with the Spirit King's guards.

"Who? Why do they want me?" he asked getting angry.

"I thought you might know them. Never ever mention their name to anyone. Do you understand?" she said releasing just a bit of her own reiatsu. She saw his anger bleed away as shock and wariness replaced it. It was better than downright terror with which most other shinigami reacted.

"Retsu…was that your reiatsu…Merlin!" he swore and wiped away the sweat that had broken out on his face. She continued to look at him blankly. He held up a hand. "I understand. Forget I even asked."

"I am sorry, Harry-kun, I don't want you to be hurt." She smiled to put him at ease and lighten the mood.

He nodded. "I need to be the best," he whispered.

Retsu frowned. There weren't many who persisted in something after she had scolded them. "Begin meditating with your Zanpakutō, that is your sword, a soul-cutter. Every Shinigami's sword has a spirit which is a reflection of his or her soul. Any worthy shinigami knows the name of his Zanpakutō. The spirit is the Shinigami's partner and helps train him as well."

He beamed at her and it lightened her heart. "Thank you, Retsu. Can you teach me how to meditate with my Zanpakutō?" He was back to being excited and seemingly the dark cloud between them was lifted.

"Of course, I will teach you the practices tonight before I leave. The rest is up to you, Harry-kun. But you're used to that by now." She smiled knowing he would succeed. "You have to know, keeping your reiatsu in check alone by yourself and away from danger is very different than when you are around people who mean to harm you. So you must advance to training in towns now."

"I will." His face was drawn in some memory that made him look old. She didn't like it but she knew minimizing the importance of his reiatsu training would not help him.

"And maybe…" she began but trailed off realizing what she was about to say was a bad idea.

"What?" he prompted.

Retsu steeled her heart. She knew Harry needed to learn how to wield a sword well enough to fight the examiners at a decent level. The sooner he was inside the Shinigami Academy the safer he would be from Zero division hunters. Perhaps this was the only way. "You cannot come close to Seireitei to train, but there are places in Rukongai that all shinigami ignore. There aren't dojos for Hakuda or Zanjutsu there…but there are many to fight. If you learn the name of your Zanpakutō and go there you will find enough trouble to gain experience." She looked away from him, unwilling to show him how much she didn't want him to take that way. He was quiet for a long time and she hoped that he would choose a less bloody path.

"If that is what I have to do…I was in District 67 when I woke up, which was awful. But people said it was paradise compared to District 80," he said.

Retsu clenched her eyes shut. "District 80. The worst of the eighty districts of Rukongai. It is called Zaraki. You shouldn't go there."

"I know, but I will," he said. "I can't be weak, Retsu. If someone is after me again… Are they powerful?"

"Some of the strongest," she answered without inflection. "Once you enter Rukongai I won't be able to come see you. I will be missed if I spend time searching for you. But in four months time if I don't see you appearing for the shinigami academy exams, I will come looking for you."

"Thank you," he said with feeling.

"You shouldn't be. Now sit down, let me teach you how to commune with your Zanpakutō."

_**00000**_

Retsu met with me one more time before I walked through the pass in the hills. I was returning to civilization and it meant I was on my own until I went to the Shinigami Academy. She didn't say goodbye for long, just told me to be careful. I was confident about being myself, but knew I'd miss her. The pass town wasn't much. Along one major road thatched buildings stood with bare minimum of everything. It was a poor and frayed place like so many in Rukongai, but there weren't many people around so you could still breathe.

I thought two weeks in the nearly abandoned town was enough and was ready to move on. I was going to miss the convenience of disapparating to the outlands to train Hohō. I could now run on air for at least half an hour. It was the most exhilarating thing I'd ever felt. It was like getting on a broom for the first time. After seeing my progress Retsu explained that Hohō was more than just running on air using surrounding spirit particles. It was all that included agility, speed, and the incredible pace of movement I had seen in shinigami. Shinigami used it to lend speed to their swordplay and martial arts. Since I didn't know either I could only practice with spells. I wanted to show off to someone how fast I could move and cast. It was that itch that got me leaving the town in the hill pass. I was supposed to be looking for trouble and I knew where I was going to find it.

The outskirts of town showed some signs of life. The same twisted and starved trees dotted the place like they did the outlands. But here and there was a lean-to shelter. Theft and robbery was common in that area or so the town folk said. With my burlap cloak wrapped around myself I walked casually down the main road, looking for the turn off someone had told me to take. I couldn't wait to be gone from the dusty and empty place.

It was two hours into my journey when I heard the sounds of fighting and screaming. Perfect, I thought, time to get my hands dirty…or dirti_er_. There was a small rise hiding the fight from view. Using my newly learned skills I sped up over it to come to a shocked stop. There were two men holding down a girl with a knife to her neck. One was starting to kneel between her legs trying to push them apart, but the girl was screaming and kicking. The one holding the knife to her neck was shouting he'd kill her if she didn't stop.

It took me only a second or two to take this in. After that I lost control over my reiatsu. In a moment the girl's attackers were on the ground staring at me with round terrified eyes. The earth under my feet cracked and the world got darker. I felt insane from rage. In a flash the incantation of a Kidō destruction spell flew through my mind. I thrust out my hands shooting red balls of fire. They burned through the two men throwing them off the girl.

"Please…stop," the girl begged. Her eyes were about to roll back. She was sweating and shaking from fear.

Seeing her brought me back to my senses. I controlled my reiatsu at once, and realized that I had punched melon sized holes right through the men. Their eyes were vacant and smoke was rising from their seared flesh. I almost threw up but the girl distracted me.

She was crawling back from me. Her face was bruised and her neck bloody where the son of a bitch had cut her. Her clothes were torn, showing an indecent amount of her legs. They too were bruised.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I was trying to get those two off of you. Here," I said, throwing her my burlap cloak. It wasn't very comfortable but it was big enough to cover her head to toe.

She wrapped it around herself and still shaking turned to look at her assailants. She had nearly orange, reddish hair coming below her ears, and large gray eyes that stared out of a tear streaked face. She stumbled over to the two men I had killed. I stayed frozen where I was unable to believe what I'd just done.

She started screaming incoherently, kicking their heads, and punching at their faces. She picked up a rock and smashed it on one's head then fell back losing her balance. I ran to her and picked her up, pulling her away. She was swearing and shouting but I couldn't make out a word between her tears and animalistic shrieking. She was in shock.

"Enough! Enough! They're dead. They can't hurt you!" I yelled at her.

She pushed me away and after walking a distance fell to her knees. I stayed close but didn't approach her. She was breathing hard through clenched teeth. Very slowly she stopped shaking. Thinking I could take the risk I walked around so I was facing her and kneeled as well. She still looked furious, she was glaring at the rocks in front of her and her mouth was set in a grim line. Her lips were cracked and her face was smudged with dirt. She looked wild, but I thought that if she was healthier and cleaner she'd be pretty.

I guessed her to be a little younger than me. She could have been fifteen, but maybe she just looked small after her ordeal. I unlatched the gourd of water I was carrying and offered it to her. She looked at me but averted her eyes quickly. Either way she took the water and gulped it all down.

"Don't suppose you have anything to eat?" she asked.

"Hungry? You must have high spirit power," I said smiling, and brought out some food.

She frowned but took the offered food and began eating it with little dignity. She thumped her chest to swallow the dry bread. I gave her more water earning a thankful glance.

"I have a friend. He also said I got hungry because I have spirit power. I wish I didn't. I wouldn't be hungry then," she said when she was done. I waited for more but she withdrew into herself.

I was ignoring the presence of the two bodies but I couldn't anymore. I stood up and offered her my hand. She didn't take it. "C'mon, we should get out of here before someone shows up."

At that she took my help to stand up. I guided her back to the road and set off on the way I had been going with her in tow. "As soon as we see somewhere to shelter we'll stop. I need to heal you." Out of the corner of my eyes I saw her nod. She was still closed off and looked lost.

Late afternoon we were in an area with a lot of rock outcroppings. I began looking for something with a long enough overhang to give us cover for the night. Without my cloak it was going to be a cold night for me. I wondered if I could somehow spell the fireballs to stay in one place and warm us. That reminded me of what I had done that morning again. I scolded myself for feeling guilty when the damage those men had done was walking next to me. I was glad I had stopped them before they could actually rape her, but she was still wounded and shocked. Idly I thought my Kidō spells were pretty well powered even if I hadn't incanted the ridiculously long spell '_Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south.'_ I knew from Retsu there were shinigami who were capable of '_Eishohaki,'_the ability to cast spells without reciting the incantation, but the power of the spell was supposed to be lower. I didn't see any difference between the fireballs I had thrown around in the outlands and the ones I had killed with earlier that day.

"Hey! Let's stop there," I said finding a near perfect spot. There was what looked like a shallow cave in a small hill, surrounded by trees upslope. It would shelter us from winds and if there was rain.

She didn't say anything but simply followed me up the craggy hill. Once we were settled in the cave I turned to her. I motioned her to sit down facing me. She was wary but she did so. I held out my hands, hoping she'd trust me. She folded back the cloak from her arms and gave me her hands. She had fair skin under all the grime and it looked like it bruised easily.

Calming myself I started casting the healing Kidō Retsu taught me. Her hands got better immediately. I smiled when I heard her gasp of delight. She was looking at her hands in wonder. I took the chance to clasp her face in one hand and rest the other against the cut on the neck. She hissed from the pain of contact. This time I kept my eyes open and smiled at her in hopefully a confidant way. The bruises didn't take much time but the cut didn't close all the way. I moved my reiryoku, bringing more of it to my hands, and sent my reiatsu in her as Retsu had shown me.

She felt different from Retsu. I almost lost my concentration. I should have expected that, Retsu had said every person's reiatsu was different. I guess I had just gotten used to her. The girl sighed and relaxed into my hands. When I pulled away the cuts and bruises were healed. She touched her fingers to the slice in her neck hesitantly. She smiled beautifully when she found it was healed. I was right, she was very cute under all the things Rukongai life left on you.

"Um…your legs," I said and blushed.

She laughed throatily and I was stunned by it. She looked like a completely different person. There was a mischievous gleam in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. The lips I noticed, now that they weren't cracked anymore, were very full. I was fast becoming embarrassed. She's younger than you; don't let her get to you! I told myself. She parted the cloak and with surprising flexibility unfolded one leg to put in my lap. I tried to look professional, only making the bare minimum contact, but there was no way getting around holding her inner thigh.

She giggled. My face spontaneously caught fire. Not literally, but it was a close thing. We ate again after she was healed. She was livelier after the food as well.

She leaned against the cave wall looking out at the trees. "It's funny. I was sticking around that town for my friend. I met him when he saved my ass from a beating. And now I've met you." She smiled. "Though rape is a little worse than getting punched and kicked." She rolled her eyes.

I was a little off balanced by her. She had been out of her mind before about it and now she was making light of it? "Well they didn't get to…violate you," I said, then cursed myself for my lack of tact.

She laughed with abandon again. "Nope! You burned holes in them before they could. Thanks for that, by the way. I did have it under control. I was going to kick him in the balls as soon as he dropped his pants."

"Yeah…you're a fighter," I said, even to me I sounded distant. I didn't like being reminded I had killed two men. I'd sworn I wasn't going to kill anyone.

She punched me in the shoulder. "Don't you forget it! Just because you saved me you're not getting any. I'm saving myself for true love," she said with a firm nod.

"That's not why I saved you! How can you-" I stopped.

She was giggling again. Her gray eyes danced in amusement. "You're easy to tease, aren't you?" she asked.

"No," I denied and groused.

"Rangiku," she said, tossing her head back to get her hair out of her eyes.

"What?"

She pointed to herself. "My name, since you don't have the good manners to ask. Matsumoto Rangiku."

I rolled my eyes. "Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

She smiled devilishly. "I wonder how 'nice?'"

I decided that if I didn't rise to her bait, she'd let up. "So is your friend expecting you in town?"

That seemed to deflate her. She shrugged. "Dunno, don't care. He comes and goes as he wants. That's Gin for you. I thought he might come back for me."

Once again I cursed myself for my tactlessness. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head and smiled sweetly. "No need. I'm an idiot. Thought he and I could go around together. But he doesn't need anyone. So! How can you throw fireballs and do that scary thing you did?"

I heard the subject change and thought a bit before answering. She'd been very forthcoming, maybe that's just the kind of girl she was. I didn't feel too comfortable telling her what I was up to but it felt a little unfair after she was so open.

"I'm training to be a shinigami. I was hungry all the time like you and found out I had high spiritual power. That's how I can do those things. You could do it too if you knew how," I said, not knowing what her wide eyes meant.

"Shinigami," she whispered. "They're scary. You really think you can be one? Well _you_ can, you made me piss myself, but I can't, right?"

She really said whatever came in her mouth. "I think anyone with high reiryoku can. They just need to know how to use it. I'm learning, you could probably too."

She hummed to herself tapping her lips with her finger. "How do I know I'm strong enough?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Suppose I could teach you how to train your reiatsu, if you get a reaction you'll know you're strong enough." Then I realized what I was saying and backpedalled. "But that would take time, and you probably need to get back to town. I'm heading someplace to learn how to fight with a sword anyway."

"Oh," she said, all humor left her face. An awkward silence fell between us.

I wish I knew what to say or do. She had withdrawn into herself making me realize how much I liked her teasing and brash personality. Damn it!

"Yeah, you don't need me either. I'd just be a burden. Well Future Shinigami-sama, thanks for the food!" She cheerily smiled and stood up, dropping the cloak.

I took one look at her torn clothes and grabbed her hand. I was too embarrassed to look at her. She'd been abandoned by her friend, almost raped, and if I left her too, she'd have no one.

"There's a Shinigami Academy entrance exam in four months. I am going to go there after my training. Are you in?" I asked. I knew she was going to turn me down. I probably didn't say it the right way to not hurt her pride.

She leaned down and kissed my head. "I like that idea," she said. She plopped back down and drew the cloak around her again.

"Well…that was easy," I said suspiciously.

She grinned making her eyes dance again. "Nothing like a warm cloak to sooth hurt feelings."

"So you're staying for my cloak?" I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"Mhm. So where are we going to learn sword fighting?" She had lain down on her side and tucked her legs into herself.

"District 80, Zaraki," I answered.

She bolted upright. "What?" she shrieked and stared at me with very wide eyes.

"It's a hard place, I need to learn to fight," I answered seriously. "It will be dangerous."

She seemed to think about it but then coming to an internal decision lay back down and shut her eyes.

"What? That's it? Don't think I'm insane?" I asked, stunned by the girl.

"I'll be safe with you. I'm not worried. Go to sleep, Potter-kun."

I didn't understand. "Why do you trust me? You don't even know me."

She opened her eyes and gave me a steady look. "In Rukongai every day and every night is taking a chance." She closed her eyes having had her say.

She was right. That is exactly what Rukongai was like. I wondered how someone who knew that could be so cheerful. I had a feeling I'd be glad I met her. I wondered if her eyes would still dance when we reached Zaraki district.

"Goodnight, Rangiku-chan," I said.

She giggled leaving me wondering if I'd used the wrong honorific again. Sleep didn't come easy.

_**00000**_


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. Thanks to Jon and Pai for content help. CeeBee and Vorpal for volunteering to do edits.

**District 80: Zaraki**

It was colder than I thought it would be. Rangiku looked warm in wrapped up head to toe. Only her nose was peaking out of the great burlap blanket she'd made of my cloak. I envied her; I don't think I could've slept even if I was warm. I had been up since early night after having enough of tossing and turning.

It was quiet except the beating of my heart. It was pounding in my head; a constant_ ba-dum ba-dum_ making me think of the men whose hearts and torsos I'd blown a hole through. My eyes burned at the edges from staring unblinkingly in the distance. I was at once aware of every sensation…and numb. They were muggles; cruel but just muggles. I couldn't forget the look in their eyes; the way their lines had changed from vicious joy of anticipation at raping Rangiku to eyes widening and faces going slack.

I remember telling Remus I wouldn't kill. I remember his look that said I wasn't in touch with reality. I'd felt so _righteous_ then. Sitting in a cave on the fringe of Rukongai I didn't know who or what I was anymore, but 'righteous' was the furthest thing from my mind. I could have used a binding spell, I could have disarmed them, I could have…

_Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum_

It felt like my heart wanted to jump out of my chest. Why wouldn't it just shut up?

(----)

Morning came and with it the realization that Rangiku would be waking soon. I didn't feel like talking to anyone, being with anyone. I thought about getting away from her for a while, going ahead to scout out a little, and then coming back for her. But my body couldn't give a damn.

I heard her wake up; she yawned loudly and cracked something when she stretched. She mumbled something to me that vaguely sounded like a greeting, I grunted back in response. She came over and spread the cloak around me. Then she sat next to me touching me shoulder to leg as if she'd always been this familiar with me. She pulled the cloak around us both; luckily there was enough of it to go around. She was very warm.

After watching her a few seconds out of the corner of my eyes I realized that I was the only one hyper aware that we were touching. I scoffed softly at myself. There I had been sleepless and sick because I'd killed people, and having a girl sit next to me was enough to distract my mind. It wasn't as if she was a veela. Unwashed orange-red hair fell about her dirt smudged face. Not something to swoon over. Though, she was warm.

Suddenly she hissed, "Why are you _so_ cold?"

"It was cold out," I said evenly.

She shuddered then hummed as if she'd thought of something. "Don't think I'll change my mind about true love just because you gave me your cloak. You're clever as a fox, but I know men." She smiled at me and winked.

I snorted. "You're welcome. C'mon let's go."

(----)

District 74 was our first from the town by the outlands. I didn't know we were so close to Zaraki and mentioned that to Rangiku. She gave me an amused glance and said, "Only the number 74 is close to the number 80. We could fit the first 14 districts inside 74 alone. It's going to be a long time before we get to Zaraki, Potter-kun. Isn't that great?" She smiled at me. I didn't answer her, I didn't know if it was great or not. Sure, it gave me more time to work on Hohō and my sword meditation, but I wanted to get away from this world…away from what I'd done.

Rangiku took the lead, my cloak dusting the road around her legs like the trail of a gown. It wasn't that she was much smaller than me; she just didn't wrap the damn thing around her enough times to keep it off the ground.

The edge of District 74 wasn't far from the town in the hill pass, and so it wasn't full of people like the ones I had known. It didn't have the same smell of too many living and dying together. The road was clear and sturdy buildings stood where the rock cropping didn't make it impossible. Small, mean bushes peppered the landscape. The town was touched with only a little more green than what we had seen on our way. Rangiku knew the way apparently, she walked purposefully to a nondescript building. It looked like a log cabin, one window, and one door thrown open. From the outside I couldn't tell what it was for until we entered it and I was surprised to find a shop. Big bag of grains were lined up in a row in front of a slightly raised platform where a man sat. Dark hair and beard on him matched the dark look he gave both me and Rangiku. I paused in the doorway but she kept going ignoring the shopkeeper. I gave him my best polite British smile and scuttled after the girl.

There was a clothes section in one corner of the shop. That is where I found her. It didn't make much sense to me, it looked like he was selling just the cloth to make clothes. I wondered of Rangiku could make her own clothes. I left her to her business and began looking around. There were unlabeled packages in brown wrapping. I couldn't tell what they were. A couple of overpriced tea sets. Some jars of spices, also very expensive. Then there was a shelf of the kind of sandals I had seen people wear in Rukongai. My boots were scratched up bad and getting worn, but even after all the different places I had walked the last many months they were pulling along. I smiled feeling unusually fond of them, maybe it was just the weird sandals on display, but I was glad I wouldn't have to wear them. But soon something did catch my eye, weapons.

On a round table there were short blades of different lengths and curves. Against the wall swords were propped up. Very aware of the shopkeeper's stare I handled the daggers inching closer to the swords. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing. I didn't think just picking up a sword and swinging it around to get a 'feel' for it make the shopkeeper happy. There was a longer sword there than the katana Unohana had given me; I thought I might like the reach of it better. Pulling out the sword I realized it was less curved than my katana, but it was hard to wield one handed. I was tempted to swing it but then Rangiku showed up at my elbow holding a brown paper wrapped package.

I slid the sword back in the scabbard as I watched her. She had a slight frown on her face. She put down the package on the round table with the knives and kneeled in front of the swords leaning on the wall. Her fingers ran over the swords from left to right, longest to shortest. She picked a fairly short blade and drew it. Holding it underhanded she swung it around then changing the grip made some hacking motions.

The man coughed and cleared his phlegm loudly. I cringed, it was disgusting.

"Mr. Shopkeeper!" Rangiku called cheerily. "Can I return my kimono for this?"

"Girls don't need swords," the shopkeeper grunted.

Rangiku was running before I got the word "What?" out of my mouth. She jumped the low platform and kicked the man in his sour face with her wooden sandals. He fell back with a shout. By now I'd run up to catch her, but I was too late. She unsheathed the short blade and pressed the edge between the man's lips. He went very still, but was still breathing hard. There was a cut on the bridge of his nose where her sandal had struck him.

"Rangiku-chan?" I called.

"Potter-kun," she said with a smile. "I did hear him say that girls don't pay for swords, didn't I?"

"Uh..." I took a look at the man's eyes that were showing a lot of white, and his very red face. "Yes, that is what he said. You should thank him and then we should go."

Rangiku pulled back suddenly and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Shopkeeper," she said demurely, and then ran out the store.

The man rolled to the side and shot his hand under a low table. He pulled out a sword of his own. I swung my katana still in its sheath like a bat across his face. He dropped back unmoving.

Shit! I swore, and climbed the platform to check on him. My hands glowed yellow where I put them on his neck and head. I breathed in relief, he was just knocked out. I hadn't broken his skull.

Feeling a little shaken and getting pissed I left the shop. Rangiku wasn't in sight so I started walking in the general direction we were going before. I looked down streets and inside open doors of buildings as I passed them getting more and more angry. What the hell was she thinking? It was evening when we'd entered the town, and I wanted to stay the night. But now we'd have to get away before the shopkeeper woke up and caused trouble.

After a while I'd walked my anger off and wondered about Rangiku. It was just my luck I'd ended up attaching myself to someone with the moral standards of someone raised in Rukongai. I could get mad at her for stealing, but, hey, this is how things happened there. Common decency was a joke, there were only those who walked on others and those who were trodden upon. She was just surviving.

Besides, I was going all the way to Zaraki district to look for trouble, why should I be fuming that she found it for me so early?

It was nearly dark when I found her. She was at the other end of town, waiting by the road that led out. Merlin, I had to talk to her about staying with me or telling me where she was going. It was lucky we were in a small town but we wouldn't always by.

She was leaning against the side of a building and waved me over. She was wearing her new clothes and she had cleaned up somewhere. I finally saw her grime free face for the first time. Dusk made her hair look dark; her grey eyes reflected the silvery moon. She looked forlorn for some reason.

"They haven't grown," she told me quietly.

The tone of her voice worried me. I squeezed her shoulder and asked, "What hasn't grown?"

She sighed and grabbed her chest, lifting up her breasts. "They are the same size since I bathed the last time."

My face heated up, I pulled away my hand from her shoulder. I glanced and looked away sharply. Yeah, they weren't too big but a handful isn't bad…I think.

"They will grow… I mean, you're still growing up. I have a friend and she got bigger every year, so, I mean…" I trailed off when thought my tongue would tie itself.

"Really?" she asked hopefully, her eyes suddenly bright.

I didn't answer her. It was physically impossible. "…about that sword, I could've paye-"

She cut me off, "Oh! Yes!" She spun around and picked up the sword from the ground holding it in both hands like a price. "Wasn't it lucky that guy was such a bastard? I didn't have money for a kimono and a sword." She beamed at me.

I couldn't help but laugh. Yeah, she was Rukongai's child after all."Um, Potter-kun, we should go!" she said with alarm.

I looked where she was looking to see men with swords and spears coming at us.

"Damn it," I swore. "Hold on to me," I told her and picked her up before she could say anything. I thanked Merlin I'd practiced running on air and took off with Rangiku's scream ringing in my ears.

(----)

The scenery hadn't changed much outside of the first town in district 74. The same bare underbrush and rocky rolling lands watched us pass them by. I'd run for an hour as fast as I could go, somehow taking a cruel pleasure on how scared I could make my new friend. When I stopped I crashed from exhaustion. Controlling my reiatsu while running at Nimbus speeds on air devastated my body.

I was lying at the foot of knoll away from the main road. Rangiku rummaged in my bag and brought me food. I ate slowly, feeling my hands tremble from how drained I was. She didn't eat and when I asked she said she wasn't hungry. It was too dark for me to really see her face but I thought she was a little shocked from the trip. I was too tired to help her get over it. It was fun anyway.

"I'm sorry about the sword, Harry-chan," she said.

I'd explained to her my first name was 'Harry' and not 'Potter.' I didn't say anything, it sounded like she had more to say.

"We're going to District 80. You'll need someone to watch your back. That's what I thought, but you can move like the wind," she laughed, but it sounded forced. "I thought we could get away before the shopkeeper would come for us."

I shrugged, but lying down in the darkness, she probably couldn't see it.

"You want to be a shinigami too, Rangiku. I'm glad you took the sword. But next time, wait for me before you start running." I saw her head bob.

"And _you_ should know that if you can't find me I will be at the end of town. I thought everyone knew that. Why do you think the bastard and his friends came there?" she scolded.

"How was I supposed to know?" I was a little nonplussed.

"Rule number 1 of Rukongai urchins. When you get separated from your friends in a strange town, go to the gate out of town… or really the rule is when you steal from someone run to the gate out of town so you can escape. Since all the urchins know the rule, they know where everyone is heading and meet up. See?"

I guess there was a lot I didn't know about Rukongai still. I laughed, "You stuck around for a long time for me, didn't you? Why didn't you run away? Didn't you think something had happened to me?"

She stood up and walked around me to lie down behind me. She threw open my burlap cloak she hadn't given up even after getting new clothes. She covered me and herself in it, nudging me to turn on my side away from her. I could feel her warm breath on the back of my neck but nothing else touched. The cold wind was drying my sweat and giving me a headache, so having the cloak back even if I had to share it was wonderful.

"So?" I prompted, wondering if she'd answer my question.

"So, now you know I'm hard to get rid of," she said seriously behind me. But then she poked me and said, "As if I was going to go to Zaraki district by myself. Stupid."

I grinned and fell asleep, the murders of the day before far from memory.

(----)

It had been a few weeks, we were getting very close to Zaraki district. The last time we weren't walking through a forest was two districts ago. Twisting lanes formed the main roads, small clearings housed the important businesses: a bar, an eatery of some kind, a brothel of course. All got cheaper and seedier as we got close to Zaraki. Rangiku was a blessing in disguise… sometimes that blessing was disguised _too_ well. She knew more of these towns than I could hope to.

The kimono looked good on her, but it made her stand out too much in the areas we passed through. Her orange-red hair and shiny blue kimono wasn't subtle, and she was cute when clean and not whining.

Fighting while trying to protect her was difficult. She became a burden, but not for the lack of trying not to be. I had magic and Kidō on my side, and with Hohō I learned to move fast. She was still developing her reiatsu. I was getting edgier; I couldn't use the sword because my ineptness would hurt not only me but also Rangiku. She had no trouble with her sword. It was a perfect fit for her. She slashed and hacked whenever she got an opening, as in whenever I distracted the mob and she moved behind them. In a straight one on one fight with sword we both barely survived; she because with a shorter blade she was quicker, me because I used my reiatsu to be faster and stronger. So when I hacked, I hacked like a bloody human propeller.

We hadn't attracted anyone's notice that was really bad. I was getting worried I'd run into someone who could use reiatsu as well and then we'd be royally screwed. I would have looked for more trouble, but, hell, with Rangiku I couldn't do that. I couldn't have her life on my conscience just because I was bent on becoming a sword master.

Rangiku was trailing behind me, cursing every now and then about the roots tripping her up. I was amazed at her; she really could go on whining as long as she pleased. We'd been in these forest districts for at least two weeks. She should have been used to it by now.

"Rangiku…" I said tiredly.

"Can't you just carry me and jump over trees to get there?" she asked for the…I l'd lost count.

"Why don't _you _do it. As soon as you can control your reiatsu we can both go faster," I said patiently. Of course, I wasn't doing it because I was trying to teach her. In my heart of hearts I knew I was afraid of reaching Zaraki district. Even if I didn't have her with me the plan was to use my sword there to learn how to use it. I couldn't go on relying on Kidō. And I would have to hurt people more than I did with magic, binding Kidō, banishing spells, disarming charms. Even just punching someone in the face with my reiatsu hardened fists was much easier on my conscience. But once I got to Zaraki, I would have no more excuses to not use the sword.

Would I be able to survive just with a sword? I didn't think so. I would still use magic. I consoled myself thinking that I'd use magic only if things got out of hand. But the voice in my mind that doesn't lie snickered and told me that it was precisely for things 'to get out of hand' that I was going to Zaraki.

I sighed, frustration with myself. The sigh made Rangiku shut up her whining behind me. I paused but then decided not to ask and continue. If she thought I was ticked off at her and that made her quiet, great.

The trees were tight together. It felt like the air pressed on me from all directions. The sun peaked through the tree cover every now and then, but we were mostly in this hazy half light, walking through thick and unforgiving foliage. The soles of my shoes had cracked a long time ago. They creaked every time I stepped over a root; it was beginning to get to me. I took a deep breath; I was getting pissed at things that had nothing to do with the actual problem. I didn't think I could protect Rangiku and learn to live by the sword at the same time. Sure, she was a fighter, she tried to give as good as she got. The first night hadn't been the only time I had to heal her hands because she had hurt herself fighting someone by my side. But it was one thing beating off thieves in the night or the random person who wanted to take her to his brothel. It was another to pick fights with killers…and that is what we were going to do in Zaraki district.

"Harry- kun, look!"

I looked back and a smile broke over my face. Rangiku was standing very still on one foot six inches off the ground in the air. She had a look of intense concentration on her face mixed with happy disbelief. I stepped in front of her and held my hands out to steady her. She shook her head refusing my help. She gingerly put her other foot down, successively standing with both feet off the ground. I stayed quiet as she slowly walked up as if she was climbing a stairway to the tree tops. Thirty feet off the ground she reached a bough and stopped to breath. I jumped up to a bough next to her watching to make sure she didn't fall. Her face was calm, the frown of concentration was gone. She was moving her reiatsu, I knew because I could feel warmth come off of her.

Very shakily she brought her hands together, a blue sphere of light winked into existence between them. It began to grow like the hope inside me. Yes! If she could be faster than the average thug, she could save herself.

"Those awful roots, I couldn't stand it anymore," she whined.

I rolled my eyes. How could this girl act spoiled after accomplishing such a feat was beyond me. It was as if all the effort so far hadn't worked because nothing had annoyed her enough to motivate her.

She looked at me, her eyes dancing and lips pulled back in a small smile. "Race you to Zaraki!" she said and started hesitantly running in the direction we were going.

She didn't have a chance. I didn't even move. Ten seconds later she ran straight into a branch, lost her concentration and fell on a thicker bough under it.

She moaned, lying on her stomach holding the bough with her arms and legs wrapped around it.

"Rangiku-chan, you're brilliant, I never would have thought to keep looking at my feet while running on air around trees," I said with mock awe.

"Idiot," she snapped. "You…flying pig!"

"Hey!"

"Whatever, I don't eat in a week how much you eat in a day." She sat up and crossed her arms trying to look down her nose while looking up at me.

"Don't change the subject! Who just fell on her ass?"I yelled down.

She gave me her big round innocent eyes. "If I only had a teacher interested in giving his wisdom to a shy and distraught maid like myself instead of a flying pig I could become a great shinigami," she said sadly.

"Yeah, 'shy and distraught,'" I scoffed. It wasn't my fault I liked having three meals a day. It's normal!

"Oh, but I must not be ungrateful." She gasped dramatically. Clasping her hands together in prayer she bowed her head. "Heavens let me see the blessing in the teacher you have sent me, though he is a surly, gorging, uninspired, insensitive, indelicate, boorish-"

I held my head in my hands. The only thing she could do longer than whine was come up with how many ways I was a failure as a teacher.

Was this learning the sword? I wondered, as I knocked aside the blade swinging for my neck. I kept spinning with that inhuman speed using my reiatsu, blocking the blade and cutting him shoulder to hip in one unseen three-sixty arc.

He fell; his mates yelled bastard and rushed me. They were so slow. I lunged forward, knowing the nameless thug wouldn't see me and pierced my katana through his shoulder. He didn't even realize he'd been cut and struck thin air. I watched him quietly as the pain registered on his face as he clutched his shoulder. The third and the last looked at his fallen friends and ran but Rangiku was waiting for him.

He hacked at her wildly just so he could get away from me. She ducked in time and came off her heels putting the power in her legs and reiatsu behind her thrust. She was aiming for his stomach but he turned away just in time to only have his side torn through. Her short sword peaked out over the hipbone. Rangiku was forced to leave her sword in him to get away from his maddened attacks. The man screamed in rage again and again as he swiped at her with his katana.

I could have helped but I didn't. She'd already won; the only thing remaining to be seen was if she let the man stumble away with her sword still in his side or if she took it back. She grabbed a rock and swiftly moved behind him. She slammed it on his head with a scream of her own.

The dirt covered rock, stained with blood, fell from her hands as the man fell to the ground. She pulled her sword free from his side and came to me breathing hard. That's when I noticed I hadn't even broken a sweat.

I sighed in disappointment. One week into District 80 and I had been up to fighting three swordsmen without trouble. If there was any disadvantage I had, it was covered by my ridiculous speed. The one I had pierced in the shoulder had already run away as fast as his wound allowed him with the one whose torso I had sliced leaning on him, but the one Rangiku had beaten would die without help. Here, like most places in Rukongai, someone like him was not going to get any help.

I didn't want to see Rangiku's disapproving look when I healed him so I didn't look at her. I sat down by him to cast healing Kidōu. I worked on him with a frown; he had little spiritual strength. If I didn't meet anyone with strong enough reiryoku I would probably not be challenged.

"Harry-kun, the other two got away, they'll bring their gang. You can let this one die," she said, trying to guess the reason why I was healing him.

I'd already used that excuse once so I had another one in the same vein ready. "I think this is their boss. If he goes he'll be able to tell whoever his boss is. We might have people who actually make us break a sweat," I said.

At the edges of my hearing there was a sudden whispering. My blood rushed as I tried to focus on it. I had started hearing the whispering for a few weeks, as Retsu'd said I would when my sword began responding to me.

"_You will never get stronger without knowing my name and I will never tell you that if you keep befouling me with weak blood, o' Master of Death," _I heard a disgusted voice.

"What?" I gasped, never expecting to hear 'Master of Death' in the strange world I'd landed in.

"I didn't say anything," Rangiku said, sitting down beside me and kicking her feet out. Her face was flushed and serious. "Harry-kun, I think the exam for sword fighting might be harder than this," she said. Even with the little speed she'd gained from understanding her reiatsu better made her too quick for the thugs we were fighting.

I didn't answer her because I felt a surge of heat from my katana. I stared at it and said in my mind, _Was that you?_

_I could ignore you while you didn't draw me, but now that you have I will not let you degrade me, _the sword, she, said.

I was excited that my sword had finally spoken and anxious because I'd offended it. _I am sorry. I have to learn to fight with you, and I don't know how to use a sword, so I am practicing. But now that I have you, you can teach me, right?_

She laughed in my head as if I had said something really endearing; it sounded disturbingly familiar. _You do not have me, o Master of Death. You have not even found me. _Her voice began to fade away.

I panicked; worried that she was going to disappear. _Wait, how do I find you? Tell me what I have to do!_

_Blood,_ she said. _You will find me in blood. Isn't that always the way with you? _

"What?!" I shouted out loud, startling Rangiku.

"What's wrong, Harry-kun?" she asked, shaking me when I stayed clutching the katana and staring at it.

"My…zanpakutō just spoke to me," I said in disbelief.

Rangiku smiled. "That's great! I can't hear anything from mine," she said with irritation. Then she hissed at me like a cat.

I was shaken out of my worry at being called Master of Death at that. "What?" I asked, wondering why she'd hissed at me.

She gave me a nonplussed look. This time a growl came from her, but she hadn't moved her lips.

"Sorry," I said. Thinking I was imagining things.

"It's fine. I guess hearing a sword is strange," she said happily. "So what are we going to do? You're too fast for anyone here."

I nodded, what she said made sense. I was wasting time on the border of District 80. "Are you ready to go on? You've gotten faster."

She shrugged and absently rubbed her left arm. In a fight she'd instinctively raised her arm to shield herself and been cut deeply. If I wasn't there to heal her, she would have lost it. Now there wasn't even a scar. I felt she'd learned more than I had about sword fighting; her fights lasted longer than mine.

"I'm afraid," she said without much feeling. "So if I don't go on now, I'll go back. I don't want to die, but I'd don't want to go back more. You understand, Harry-kun?" she looked to me, her grey eyes as always betraying her feelings.

I nodded. All of Rukongai and no friends waited for her the way we came. I understood completely; she was like me, looking for a way out. I just intended to go a lot further than she did. Her quest to escape would be complete when she reached the Shinigami Academy, mine would only be starting. I was glad to think that I'd see someone happy along my way. But I hated this place, where I was forced to hurt people just to escape.

(----)

Rust skies seemed to reflect the bloodied earth and humidity suffocated me as sweat literally streamed down my face. I pulled deep breaths to steady the shaking in my arms. It was as if the vibrations of clashing steel with my fallen foes hadn't worked out of my system.

There wasn't a fleck of blood on me that was my own. Dozens of them had come at me, maddened by battle lust, uncaring that I was walking through reaping anything in my way. At the end of the third week in District 80 my area of influence had extended from the south entrance to nearly halfway to where I was told the north gate was.

I didn't understand this place. I'd spent so much time in Rukongai as a beggar, skittering around, while trying not to be noticed. All so I could find out what I needed to do. I thought I couldn't go lower than throwing out my hands for someone's charity or stealing, but picking my head up in this hell of an afterlife meant becoming lesser than what I ever thought I'd be. I hardly felt anymore when my sword sliced through skin and flesh. I made my face dead, so what I felt inside would be dead.

Blood was what I was supposed to find my sword in, and blood was the way to the Shinigami Academy. So be it. Maybe when I get back to my world I can be the person I left it as. In this hell where people don't give a damn about dying, I had to be the same. Funny how instead of a wise old wizard like Dumbledore my new moral guide was a fifteen year old scared but stubborn girl. She understood what it meant to hold your head up in the forsaken place, better than what I had learned with the eyes of a thief and a beggar.

That day I won the best bar and brothel in town. The town was halfway point in District 80 and a place held by a powerful gang. They were the ones we'd cut through. Of course, we couldn't stay long; the gangs we'd run through behind us always regrouped. Two people were not enough to take on District 80 _and_ hold it.

Rangiku sat on the steps of the brothel cut up from her fights. She'd fought at my back like she had meant to ever since stealing her sword. But once I started my propeller attack she had to move away to save herself. Around me there was a chorus of moans and curses. I'd cut them up but left them alive. I was too tired to heal them, even though by now it was just a practice in reminding myself what I believed in and not so much that I cared. Of course, one remaining benefit was learning to heal some terrible wounds.

I was too tired from the fight, and the many more before it. Every day and night we moved and attacked. Everyplace we went I routed through, but they would gather more and follow us. It was like moving in a sea with water closing around you, no matter how hard you swam. Even winning felt like defeat; I was that weary. So I dragged myself to Rangiku and crashed on the steps below her.

She scooted down and put her arm around my neck. She was fairly trembling. It always took her a while to get over the adrenaline rush. She'd fought every day bravely without making a single noise of pain and without giving much mercy. She didn't care to leave people alive. When I'd yelled at her about it, she'd told me to go to hell and that she wasn't powerful enough to be as arrogant as me.

I'd understood but didn't like it; not the least because it was my fault she'd learned that lesson the hard way. A healed gash on her stomach was both evidence of my foolishness and the trust I had in her. She'd paid the price for my reluctance to kill the first strong fighter I came across in District 80. After I'd beaten him I left him on the ground and turned away to others. It was Rangiku who saved me from that fatal mistake. She blocked the sword coming at my back with her body and short sword. He was too strong for her; his sword had ripped across her belly as it pushed aside her sword.

I can never forget the cry of pain that tore out of her throat. With a sob caught in a scream of rage she killed him; lunging forward and gutting his stomach, faster than I had seen her move ever before. I almost lost her that day, and if it wasn't Retsu's lessons on managing my spiritual power and how magic worked inside me I would never have been able to save her.

So I knew she couldn't afford for someone she'd cut down to get up and slash at her back while she fought another. She wasn't going to make the mistake I made, especially since she'd paid for it.

I grabbed her hand when she set her chin on the top of my head and began casting Kidōu healing spells. I was worn out but she was wounded, without me she would be in pain for a long time. She sighed as I dampened the pain. She moved her sword so that it was guarding both her and me while I concentrated on her. I tried to ignore the oaths and promises of revenge from those who were getting away while tightly controlling my reiatsu to help her.

"That's enough," she whispered after a few minutes. "Don't exhaust yourself. It won't be long before the stench of blood reaches the north gate." She pulled back from me and stood up. "Hey, wenches! You can come out now. Get us some food and move fast."

I glanced back to see the faces of the working girls pressed against windows of the brothel. I smiled a little as they jumped at Rangiku's orders and started running to do what she said. She was much better at playing the crime lord than me. Merlin, people in every place we'd taken over briefly thought she was my boss considering the way she imperiously ordered them around. And those who didn't listen had welts from the dull end of her sword.

(----)

That night they put me in a room with a bed in a brothel. I rolled away the mattress, feeling disgusted by what fluids must have been on it. Instead I lay down on the floor even though the bed's promise of comfort was still a little tempting. It was nice to be by myself. Traveling with Rangiku meant sharing my cloak and keeping a pious distance between us; the cloak wasn't big enough for her true love fantasies. It was trying at times to share.

I was well fed and warm and soon drifted off to sleep. It wasn't too much later the door slid open. My sword, which was always unsheathed at night, was in my hand and pointing like a wand in a two handed grip at the intruder. She stretched, yawned, and crumpled next to me, ignoring the naked sword. Then as was her habit she spread my worn cloak, smelling of blood and dust, over us both.

"Thought you'd want to sleep by yourself. Pretty sure the…women have a lot of rooms," I said to Rangiku.

"The whores are planning on a surprise orgy for you." She yawned loudly. "They think you're powerful enough so if you stick around no one would bother them."

I was a little shocked and repulsed. They were not exactly my type, any of them, and I didn't even know what my type was. Except it wasn't what you'd expect to find in the worst part of hell. "Oh," I said finally.

"Hmm, so I thought, I'd come by, watch and learn," she said, poking me in the shoulder to turn me on my side, so I'd take less of the cloak.

"Go to hell," I cursed quietly, irritated. "You're not learning anything."

She laughed behind me and I felt her breath on my neck. I rubbed the skin and pulled up my collar; it is very annoying to have someone breathing on you when you're trying to sleep. Then she said, "As if I'd let them." She snorted. "Also they were planning on killing me, since I am standing in their way to you. If I am sleeping with you they don't get to fuck you or kill me. Bastards."

I rolled my eyes to myself. I saved these women from predators and they wanted to trap me and kill my friend. I went to sleep thinking that if I ever found my way out of wherever I was I'd take Rangiku with me.

(----)

The screams woke me up and in another second smoke filled my lungs. I rolled to my feet with Rangiku only moment behind me. Grabbing my glasses I saw red light flickering behind the door.

"Fire," Rangiku said, slipping on her sandals and throwing the door open. I followed her into the hallway running from room to room checking for others. I did not find them. She'd gone ahead and ran back, her grey eyes tearing from the smoke and angry. "Those disease ridden bitches put the stairs to the fire. The whole first floor is burning. We don't have a way out."

"Merlin's balls in a vise, I hate this fucking shithole." I burst into the room closest to me, sliding over the cheap and gaudy throws. I was coughing by the time I thrust my hand out at the back wall. I incanted with all the fury inside me, _"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."_ Blue fire in the shape of lightning shot in six lances from my hand. It struck out wildly at the room and the back wall, destroying everything in its path with a roar louder than the fire set to burn us.

The floor shook beneath our feet. I jumped into the air and yelled at Rangiku to do the same when I saw she was too shocked by me to move. Half the roof had blown away including the whole back wall of the second floor. The rooms to the side of the one we had been in were enflame in the blue fire of my spell, now raging far more greedily than the red fire we were escaping from.

I took a few quick steps in the air to get us away from the billowing smoke and heat. Far under me with a river of lit torches were a hundred or so men. So they finally caught up to us while we slept, I thought to myself. A half ring around the brothel the whores were kneeling, swords to their necks.

A gang lord I recognized because of his fancier clothes raised his sword to the sky at me. "This is what you get for helping the Shade of Zaraki!" he shouted down at the woman in charge of the brothel.

My reiatsu burst as I saw his sword coming down and those of his men on the women. The world blurred in black of night and red of fire as I moved, but when I got to the ground it was too late. He had only cut halfway through her neck. She was at his feet, twitching like a slaughtered animal, left to bleed out her life's blood. She was far beyond my skill. I looked to my right and left; no, I hadn't been fast enough to stop the blades that cut through the necks of the other whores either.

The corpulent man who had killed the brothel mistress swung his sword at me and cut through the cloth before he struck the steel of my skin. The spiritual energy I had kept such a tight leash on for months tore through its bonds. The fat gang boss fell to his knees with his men feeling my reiatsu. I was cold inside and something hard had settled into my throat. I felt as if I breathed too deeply or spoke I would shatter. For a brief moment I remembered Retsu Unohana, that sweet young woman who had been my only hope and light in whatever circle of Hell I was. I thought of her and knew I was going to betray all her lessons and admonishments, and worst of all ruin her hopes for me. She would just have to forgive me this moment, or I would just never tell her.

It was too hard control the tempest, now burning, now chilling, inside me. I let my reiatsu go, and the hundred torches they had come to put me to fire with, died.

I could have used magic, I could have used the Kidōu spells I knew, but my mind was blank of any incantations. The sword was already naked in my hand. I raised it in a two handed grip and brought it down on the man who had killed the whore. It was quick for him.

"Harry," Rangiku's voice rasped behind me. "Please," she said, unable to stand by my side because I'd lost control.

I couldn't say anything, past whatever was stuck in my throat. I didn't think I wanted to ever speak again, especially not then. Not when there were a hundred or more ghouls cringing and moaning in terror around me.

I walked, and I slew.

(----)

Every time the blood sprayed from one of them I thought of the old whore's dying fit. Every time they ululated in agony before the killing blow I thought of the silence of the whores now dead for having me under their roof. It was too dark, I couldn't see anything, but I didn't need to see anything; I felt them, my reiatsu told me where each breathing, sweating, pissing devil crawled on its belly.

"Oi, oi, so you're the one they call the Shade of Zaraki? They say no one can see you when you fight. I see you just fine," a deep and bored voice broke through my steady extermination of the filth of the afterlife.

A wave of power buffeted me and a strange feeling of boney fingers skittering over my skin followed. I was jolted from my morbid thoughts, knowing for certain that someone with immense reiatsu was ahead of me. The night was darker and had become inky black because of my reiatsu flowing wildly, so I couldn't make him out.

I was standing on someone's dying body, so I moved to the ground for better footing. I breathed deeply, binding my reiatsu so that whatever starlight was there showed me who I was facing. He was a very tall man, over six and half feet at least. His hair was cut as if with a hatchet and fell unwashed around his head. The shirt was sleeveless, and whatever he was wearing under ended at his knees. He was shoeless and held a jagged sword taller than me. He was a brute amongst brutes.

"I didn't know they called me the Shade of Zaraki," I said in a whisper, realizing my throat was still tight from the unquenched wrath inside me. "Who are you?"

He shrugged and scratched his chin, looking away from me. "I don't have a name," he said, sounding a little sad. "But one day they will call me Kenpachi, once I have killed every swordsman worth killing in Zaraki."

I snorted. "So who do you work for, someone in the south or the north of Zaraki district? I've probably already killed your boss. You don't look like you're a gang leader yourself, most of them are soft. "

He barked out a laugh and grinned at me like a lizard. "I don't care about bosses or gangs. I'm only here to kill you or be killed by you."

Yet another lunatic, I thought. But I was wary, I hadn't met a single person with as strong a reiatsu as him by far in my fights. "Let's see if you can see me when I am really fighting then," I said.

I controlled my reiatsu, hardening my skin, breathing speed and strength to my body. And then I rushed him planning to slice him in the middle. At the last moment I changed my weapon's direction to block overhead where his sword was about to cut me head to waist. His strength made me stagger, but in the same movement as blocking I pivoted on my hip to strike his side.

He wasn't nearly fast enough to block me. I anticipated the feel of muscle and bone parting at the edge of my sword but it glanced off his body, sending a jolt of pain through my arms. It had never happened to me and I was off balance for a second too long. My shoulders and back burned when his sword cut into me tearing out chucks of flesh with its jagged edges. I disapparated away from him.

I wish I could say I didn't let the pain show on my face, but when you have felt parts of your flesh tugged right out of your body, you can't act unaffected. I swore and cursed. With it the outrage simmering under my consciousness at the murder and wildness of Rukongai exploded in hate for the tall thug in beggar's clothes.

"They're right, I didn't see you. But I can guess where you are. Wish you were stronger." He said sounding deeply disappointed.

I cried in animalistic fury and attacked him spinning in the air so that my sword would strike at him a hundred times a minute. He laughed and blocked me, while the wound he left on me burned. My reiatsu grew with each clash. I could sense it running down the steel between us until it felt like every hit was an earthquake.

But I was weakening, I needed to get away to heal myself. The pain and the spinning were making me dizzy. His laughter was an enraging soundtrack, egging me on to finish him. This whole damn afterlife was just a mocking laugh ringing in my ears.

It was stupid and I should have known better. No matter which way I spun, how fast I lunged, I could not bleed him. I landed more strikes than he could block. I was faster but he was stronger, and his skin was impenetrable.

I stumbled in my jumping and spinning, he took the advantage and caught me by the throat. He shook me in the air. His hand was big enough to wrap all the way around my neck. I raised my katana one handed aiming for his head but he brought his sword up faster than a snake strike and cut my arm off over the elbow.

He threw me to the ground, sword less, arm less. I thought it would burn. But I didn't feel anything. I just stared at the stump, watching blood pump out of it with each heart beat. It was cold, like rivulets of ice water were crawling up my back to the base of my head and making my mind numb.

_Take my name, o' Master of Death. If you still have the will to fight. Or will you die in this place you've been thrown to? Call me. Your blood is spilled and it is mine, _she spoke to me after weeks of silence.

"Heh, you were amusing for a while. But you couldn't cut me, no one can. Never saw anyone move like you though," the man with the lizard grin said and flicked my blood off his sword, giving me a sad look.

I smiled, and I didn't know why. I stood up, still numb, but suddenly excited, even aroused; a state that worried me later. The whispers from the sword were growing louder.

And then I heard her name. I shouted, "Slake your thirst, Goddess of Death, Izanami!"

My cut off arm and sword began to glow, surrounded by a pulsating green and black miasma. My spilled blood on the earth began to rise and undulate in the air like a living thing. The sword changed shape. It became shorter and straighter, still looking vaguely like a katana but with the curve at the tip of the sword. My cutoff arm still holding the sword rose in the air, it was connected to my stump by the blood writhing in the air. It shot back to me as if I had summoned it and knitted itself to my body. The pain on my back and shoulders disappeared soon after that as well.

I held the sword out, somehow knowing what it wanted. Everything was awash in the green and black light of my reiatsu; in it the blood flowing from the dead bodies could be seen clearly rushing to my sword. It pooled at my feet and leapt at the tip of the sword, running up the engraved blood groove in the outline of many threaded veins on the blade.

The bodies of the scum shrunk as Izanami drank them in, they became husks within moments. But my eyes were stuck on the tall swordsman in beggar's clothes. His smile had fallen and he was seeing me as if for the first time. As if a muggle had seen magic.

_I have had your blood and those of your foes. Cut down that arrogant cur now, o' Master of Death, _she said, as always mockingly calling me that name.

The barefooted man suddenly started laughing maniacally. "This is great. You were hiding your power! Finally you're serious. I wonder if you can cut me now. Come on Shade of Zaraki!" he chortled and raised his sword.

"I will more than cut you, Kenpachi of Zaraki!" I disapparated to him, appearing in the air and bringing down the much shorter sword than I was used to. He didn't see me or sense me. The sword's tip sank into his forehead and sliced down through the brow to his face and stopped in his chest. I pushed down, burying it deeper in his chest.

He swung at me with an enraged oath but his sword bounced off of me. I stayed in the air pushing on my sword while he rained his blade on me. I could feel Izanami pulling his blood into the leaf like veins on her blade. The brown skin around the wound began to gray and crack. I couldn't push the sword in anymore. It was as if he had steeled his insides with his reiatsu not just his skin.

_You will dishonor me by losing to this refuse of a man again?_ Izanami asked with disgust.

Her ire turned to my hate, and I cursed, _"Crucio!" _

The dark magic shook him and for the first time I heard a moan of real pain escape him. I held the curse, riding him down as he fell. I kept him impaled as he thrashed on the ground. One half of his face was washed in blood from the wound that I was sure would leave a scar if he didn't die.

I don't know how long I sat on him fueling the curse. The curse only died when I felt my rage die suddenly. It was when I saw a sign on the blade collar at the base of the sword. It was a triangle, with a circle in the middle, and a line bisecting it; the symbol of the Hallows.

I stood up and pulled my sword, watching it morbidly as the blood it had spilled ran up the blood groove instead of down. Izanami was still drinking. Around me the husks of the fallen had turned to dust, but the tall thug was somehow still alive, if passed out.

"Harry," Rangiku's voice made me spin around. She was looking around in horror. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Izanami started laughing, and a moment later my laughter mixed with hers. After all that it was the last thing I expected to hear.

"Rangiku," I said, giving her a hug because I felt alive again. "I think I'm done in this fucking place. Let's go to the Shinigami Academy."

She didn't say much, just gave me a nervous grin, but she did quietly bring my scabbard and sheathed Izanami. 


	3. Chapter 3

A.N. It is a shorter chapter but it ends at a logical place, some important things happen even if not a lot is happening. Thanks to Ceebee and WBA posters for edits.

_**Zanpakutō**_

Ripples went out into the darkness where I stepped. The water was luminescent with a soft green light. It illuminated a chamber with walls seemingly going on forever before disappearing in a blackness so deep it was as if I was standing on the edge of outer space. Flanking me were statues of obsidian with creatures and animals; some familiar and some strange. Here a thesteral, there a Banshee, a sweet little child with vampire teeth, and many more.

At the end of the vast hall were great rising stairs made from white marble. There an arch disappeared far above me ensconcing an immense mosaic of a tree. No matter how hard I looked or how much closer I came, I could never see to the top of the tree. Like the walls of the hall the ceiling just disappeared into the inkiness of empty night. I walked up the steps covered in flowing water as the rest of the hall and turned at the top step. There was no end to the space or the statues of dark stone adorning it.

"How do you like your soul, o' Master of Death?" Izanami's voice came behind me.

I whirled to see a woman standing with a cowl covering her from head to toe. Only the very ends of her hair were visible.

"Izanami," I whispered. I gazed at her still form for a moment before saying, "It's darker than I thought it would be."

"Oh?" she said. "Does this oppressive white tree not provide enough light for you, o' Master of Death? As ever you are as audacious as your mother."

I was bewildered. "What?" I asked. "What are you talking about?" Just then the mosaic of the tree began to glow with a pearly light. It was no longer a painting but became real, with its heavy boughs moving in a sudden wind. I was convinced that if I walked through the arch I'd be right under the grand oak.

"Walk with me," she said, holding out her arm like a queen. I escorted her down the steps. Somehow the feel of her even through the velvet cloth of her robes was intensely familiar. I tried to glimpse her face under her cowl but couldn't see anything.

We came to stand in front of a towering statue of a man in a deep cloak carrying a scythe. "The grim reaper?" I asked.

She nodded and led me further in between the statues stopping at another. It was a wolf, sleek and long, it's ears flat, and lips curling back from sharp teeth. "And this?" she asked.

"It's a wolf," I said, wondering why I was being asked the obvious.

"Another face of death. All these around you are instruments, visages, aspects of death," she explained and led me on.

"I don't understand, why are they in my soul? Is it because you're the goddess of death?" I felt silly asking but I really was uncertain.

She snorted. "To think I have been reawakened only to be bonded to you. Look, what do you see?"

"It's a woman," I said, peering at the statue awash with the tree's white light. It revealed details I would have missed in the little light the flowing water offered. "She's beautiful, very delicate, can't see how she could have worn those heavy robes and all that jewelry. Is she a face of death too?"

"That," Izanami said quietly, "is the face of creation and death. That is my face from once upon a time when I was my husband's wife and we created the world. And then I was this," she pointed to another statue.

"Merlin," I gasped, not fully over the shock of hearing her history to seeing the statue of a crone with long tangled hair, wasted body, pronounced facial bones glaring down at me from her stone platform.

"And that was how I went to sleep, remaining only the goddess of death, spurned by my husband who couldn't stand how death had made me ugly," she explained. "But I look like neither now, thanks to the arrogance of your mother." She slipped her arm out of my hold and dropped her hood.

I stared in shock. Red hair in complex ringlets like that on the beautiful Izanami's statue streamed down from her head. Clasps of gold adorned the rings on top of cold green eyes that I was too familiar with.

"Mum?" I gasped.

"Don't say it!" she snapped. "I am not that big nosed pale ghost. She dared defy death and now I am trapped in the skin of her sheer arrogance."

My mother's face glared at me with hatred. Her words cut me to the deep. Confusion from the obvious loathing she had for me warred with fury at how she was insulting my mother. But in that moment I couldn't separate Izanami from my mum. I stood there like a lost boy.

"But now that you are here, it is over. I can set this to right," she said smiling wickedly. In her hand was my sword, bloody from battle. She raised it overhead. I yelled, not expecting it and stumbled back into a statue. The sword came down and stopped with a jerk at my throat. Izanami smiled with such affection that it nearly stopped my heart. She let the sword drop and said, "And so the shackles appear that would dare touch a goddess. Come o' Master of Death, since your mother has trapped me in the very skin of her love for you I cannot kill you. But not all is lost yet, I will simply have to make you worthy of me."

I was breathing hard but followed her. It was then I realized that I still had my sword strapped to my waist. As a precaution I drew it. Izanami scoffed without looking back at me. She went back up to the mosaic of the tree and sat down on a throne that wasn't there before. She looked regal in her revealed robes and jewelry. It was hard to suppress the yearning I felt in my heart for my mother when I looked at her.

"Blood," she said. "In it your mother's power is locked, as is yours, and so am I now." She smiled, I hated how she could make my mother's face look evil with such a simple gesture. "I do not mind, who better understands the power of blood than the once goddess of creation and death?"

"I don't get it. Why do you hate my mother so much? Why do you have to be in her body? If you're the goddess of death can't you change?" I demanded coming to stand before her throne.

She arched perfect brow. "We are one, you and I, reflections of each other. It is through no fault of mine that your soul is a mesh of your own strength, the last magic of your mother's, and my own power in death. If you must blame someone, as I very much like to do so, blame your mother for not bowing to the inevitable as is expected."

I trembled becoming enraged. "Just stop! You tried to kill me, how can you be anything like the reflection of my mother or me?"

Izanami shrugged and rose faster than I could see. Somehow she had me in her arms before I could move to put my sword between us. My arms felt weak; I couldn't resist the wave of nostalgia that broke over me when I smelled her fragrance. She kissed my cheek and caressed her fingers through my hair. "And why would I kill my son, sweet little flower? I must make you stronger to wield me, to bring honor to my name, and to wash off the sins of your mortal mother."

"I don't understand," I said, perplexed by the spirit of my sword.

Izanami kissed my forehead and stepped back from me, giving me the most loving smile I'd ever seen in my life. "Is it a wonder I am affectionate? Especially when you presented me with the river of your enemies' blood. Don't despair, my pet. If I cannot kill you, I will make you a man worthy of being the companion of a goddess." The smile from her this time terrified me, but for entirely different reasons. I ran through the possible meanings of the word 'companion' and couldn't come up with anything that would explain the gleam in her eyes.

She kissed me next to my lips next and I shuddered; in fear or relief, I don't know. Being touched by her was like coming home and being burned by icy fear at the same time. "You have much to grow before you are prepared to take my errant husband's place beside me, little flower. But I will be here to nurture you into the man who will take revenge for me upon him. What a better task for the 'Master of Death?'"

I pulled away from her as if scalded. "But you...you're like mum, you're her reflection, you said so yourself! This is wrong!"

She looked at me coolly from my mum's emerald eyes. "A goddess does not have time or patience for coyness. Forget the stain of the mortal flower who bore you. I am now your liege, your god, your mother, and if I choose to bestow the honor you shall be my consort. Go now, your soul is troubled. See how the tree withers?"

I looked to the mosaic behind the throne and indeed the deep green leaves on the white oak were falling leaving naked branches behind. It was the last thing I saw before I came to the outside world with a jerk.

I breathed deeply as I tried to control my shaking. I couldn't remember ever being that repulsed or disturbed in my life. I was so lost in my own storm of thoughts that when Rangiku spoke I was startled.

"You were asleep for a long time," Rangiku said, sitting cross legged across from me where she had been trying to commune with her sword.

I threw my sword to her and jumped up. I started walking away ignoring Rangiku's shouts. My mind was a blank. I couldn't even begin to accept that the spirit of my sword was a goddess who at once wanted to kill me, mother me, and bed me. There was nothing in the texts about this.

* * *

Unohona Retsu sat in one of the quieter bars in Rukongai's District One. She had been visiting the bar frequently as the fourth month since she'd left Harry had come up. It was here that she had told him to meet her. The clientele were traditionally locals, which suited her perfectly. She did not want to be seen by any Shinigami who might recognize her. She wasn't wearing either the black of her Shinigami robes or the white cloak that announced her captain rank.

The bar was in a long and narrow shop with entrances at both ends. For this reason those who wanted to visit discreetly preferred the bar; if someone entered who they didn't want to be seen by it was easy to slip out. A small bottle of sake sat next to an empty saucer. She always ordered it but never drank any. It was merely to keep the barkeep from bothering her. She sighed to herself; it was the second fortnight of the month and he hadn't shown. She knew her subordinates were beginning to notice the nights every week she was disappearing. Soon she would have to stop coming.  
"Hey now, why is a beautiful woman like you sitting by herself and sighing?" someone asked sitting next to her at the bar.

The man turned to smile at her and froze. Retsu felt her hair rise; the look in the man's eyes was unmistakably of recognition. But then he was familiar too. "Isshin-San? What are you doing here?" she asked, sounding casual despite herself.

"Captain Unoh-" He began to say but she shushed him. He continued in a whisper, "Captain Unohona, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Oh, just taking a break from life in Seireitei. And you, Isshin-San, are you skipping out on your duties for the Spirit King?" she asked sweetly. This time it was the man who shushed her.

She smiled. Her old subordinate hadn't changed even though she hadn't seen him in many years. It seemed the five-o-clock shadow on the tall man was perpetual, and he was still incapable of subterfuge with her. The only problem was that despite Isshin's lack of discretion in his personal life he was a wily Shinigami. He was one of her past students and knew her as well as someone she had groomed to be her lieutenant. If it hadn't been his need for adventure and the fact that at his power he could never be anything but a captain someday he would have stayed with the fourth division. Of all the Shinigami in the secret Zero division to run into it being her past student was the worst luck.

"Let's not take names and talk about work, dear lady," Isshin said, pouring himself a drink from her bottle of sake.

Retsu smiled. "That would be nice. So let me guess you were off to the mortal world again, without permission _again_."

The tall man hunched. "Sensei," he said sounding as much the young pupil she'd known. "How do you always know?"

Retsu tutted and motioned him to sit straighter, a man of his frame looked silly bent into himself. Despite it not being the best time to run into Isshin-san, she did worry about him. "Isshin-san, you will be caught one day again. You know the penalty for attempting to live life a second time. Your soul will be destroyed. And the reason I always know is because you never hide well the things you buy on Earth." She pointed to the packet of sweets in his lap.

He breathed in relief and smiled roguishly. "So you're not going to arrest me?"

Retsu looked at him seriously. "Isshin-san, have you ever known me to shirk my duty?"

"No," he said also growing serious. "But they are all so alive there, you have to see the things they have!"

"Perhaps it is because there are alive." She raised her hand to stop him when he began to retort. "This is only the third time I have seen you in the last two hundred years. Tell me if you've been well."

Isshin waved his hand in the air as if life was passable. He poured himself another drink. "I'm bored. You know the reason why what Zero division does is so secret? It's because they don't want to let out how dreadfully boring it is. Hell, I'd take the Healing division over being there." He choked on his drink apparently realizing he'd just insulted his former teacher.

Retsu simply gave him her faint smile resisting the temptation to release her spiritual power. She remembered the day Isshin had run off to the 11th division and taken over its captaincy. Those were still the early days of the division and he had shaped much of it while shamelessly begging her for help. She'd thought after betraying her expectations for him he'd be a little more tactful.

"Retsu!" she heard behind her. In another moment she was buffeted by Harry's spiritual pressure. She hadn't turned in her seat fully to face him before she found herself being hugged.

His fingers were digging into her back and his face was buried in her shoulder. She ran her hand soothingly on the back of his neck sending her reiatsu into him. What she found there troubled her - it was as if all the work she had done healing him had been torn asunder. The river of spiritual strength was rougher than ever, caught in a tempest he was controlling only barely.

She felt him calm quickly just by the soothing motion of her hand. She wondered what had happened to him while he had been away from her to damage him so. She had expected him to change having little illusions about what fighting in the far districts was like, but she had thought that he was strong enough for it. If the state of his spiritual strength was any measure she had been very wrong about what he was able to sustain. She pulled away from him knowing that it wasn't the time to investigate further.

She crinkled her nose, it was obvious that it had been some time since Harry had taken a shower. He smiled at her happily. Whatever the state of his reiryoku he was either unaware of it or just happy to see her. She smiled back and ran her hand through his hair with an indulgent shake of her head.

"Harry-kun, you will force me to find cleaning and scrubbing Kidō for you," she teased him, enjoying the blush that crept up behind his dirty face.

"I was going to go to a bath house but didn't want to miss you," he said. "Um, this is Rangiku."

Retsu noticed the girl with Harry, she smiled gently at her, somehow Harry had found a friend as wild looking as him on his way. It didn't escape Retsu's notice that the girl was wearing the cloak she had given Harry, or the bloodstains on it.

The girl waved at her. "Matsumoto Rangiku," she introduced herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Matsumoto-san..." Retsu trailed off seeing the young girl's demeanor become wary and her hand go to the hilt of the wakizashi at her waist. She followed her eyes to see Isshin and Harry shaking hands, or what at a more careful glance looked like Isshin holding Harry in place.

"Are you sure you've never been to District 80? Strange, I've been following a reiatsu signature that showed up there some weeks back and then I lost track of it. Until you walked into the room," Isshin was saying. Retsu panicked, this was worse than what she had been afraid of. In being excited to see her Harry hadn't been tightly controlling his spirit pressure. Someone like Isshin wouldn't be fooled - she had trained him herself.

Harry was relaxed, he'd left his hand in Isshin's clenching grasp as if he didn't feel any pain from the bigger man's hold. "I've come from District 67. I heard 80 is Hell, why would I go there? Following someone's reiatsu signature is tricky anyway, unless you know the person intimately, I'm sure it's a mistake. Well, it's nice meeting you, Isshin-san," he said and said something under his breath. Isshin jerked his hand back as if he'd been stung.

"I am so glad you two could meet!" Retsu said, smiling widely. She stepped forward reaching for their hands. The men were a little taken aback by her cheer as she'd planned and she managed to break them up by taking a hand in each of hers. "Harry-kun, Isshin-san will be your sword master. Isshin-_sensei_, Harry-kun is here to take the Shinigami academy's entrance exams this week. You will prepare him, won't you?"

Isshin and Harry stared at her dumfounded. Retsu smiled at Isshin and reached for the sweets he had brought back from the mortal world. She unwrapped one and put in her mouth. "Mmm, fudge is my favorite."

Isshin arched a brow then gave a little smile. "I understand. I would be happy to take on Harry-san as a pupil. What do you say, Harry-san? It will make up for my misunderstanding."

Retsu looked expectantly at Harry who nodded though he looked confused. "Well, then, off you go both of you. Matsumoto-san and I will make arrangements for where you will stay while you're gone."

Harry frowned and asked, "Are you sure, Retsu?"

Retsu smiled and nodded but she didn't miss the look Isshin-san sent her at Harry's casual and very familiar use of her name. Harry shrugged and began to leave as did Isshin. She caught Isshin before he moved past her for a few words. "Don't tell him anything about me."

"What?" he asked.

"Don't tell him I'm a captain or how old I am, Isshin-san," she whispered, keeping her voice low so that Harry's friend couldn't hear their conversation.

Isshin gave a short bow. "As you wish, sensei."

"And don't tell him I was your sensei. Rather you were my teacher, hmm?"

Isshin sighed as if he was suffering. "Do you know what you're doing, Captain Unohona? The entire Zero Division has been looking for him. Things weren't pretty in District 80 after I felt his reiatsu there. He's dangerous if he had anything to with what I found there."

"Why are they looking for him? He hasn't done anything wrong. He is in my care, Isshin-san," Retsu said looking in his eyes.

Isshin nodded. "I don't know why we're looking for him. But I understand what's happening now, he's in your care and 'you always do your duty,' I know. I'll keep quiet since you trust him and because you're blackmailing me." He smirked at her as if he wasn't upset.

"I haven't had anyone as strong as you join my division since you left, he will change that. See that he's ready, will you?" she said pretending she hadn't heard the second part of his sentence. She really did like fudge and it was doubly sweet to use it to send Isshin a subtle message.

"Sure, sure. Anything for Harry-kun's Retsu." Isshin winked at her and ran away before she could do him an injury for teasing her.

Retsu turned to the girl they had been ignoring all this time. She gave her an arched look. "So, dear, how did you and Harry-kun meet?"

* * *

As we left the bar the tall Shinigami named Isshin lamented that I didn't know one of the basic skills of Hohō, the technique to run on air, and so it would take so long to get to a clearing. Retsu seemed to trust him so I decided to throw my skill in his face and jumped into the air. He looked at me as if he was measuring me up and then disappeared from my sight to appear right in front of my face. He'd moved faster than I could see. For the first time I felt what thugs in Rukongai must have felt when facing me; outclassed.

"Let's see if you can follow," he said and rushed off. He was a dot in my vision and soon he wasn't even that. If it weren't for the long hours of training my reiatsu I wouldn't have known to hone in on his trail following his spirit pressure.

He was waiting in a small wooded area not very far from civilization. This part of Rukongai was packed with people, there was little vegetation unless you traveled much further out. I guessed Isshin wasn't in the mood to go too far. I stepped down in front of him trying not to show how much effort it had taken me to catch up to him.

"You have enormous control over your reiatsu. It leaves only a faint trail. It's different than when you entered the bar," he commented scratching his unshaved neck.

"I was excited to see Retsu so I wasn't watching myself," I explained, mentally cursing. I still didn't know why Retsu trusted him knowing he had been after me, or why he had changed his attitude so quickly when she interrupted our little battle of wills.

He chuckled. "So how did you meet my past and glorious student Retsu-chan"

I frowned not really following why he was so amused. "That's her story to tell," I said, not happy about missing the joke.

"Don't get testy now." He held a finger to his lips in a shushing signal, interrupting my retort. "Just watch yourself. Retsu is very important to many people. If you get her in trouble because you can't keep your reiatsu on a leash I won't forgive you. You follow me, kid?" He tapped his hand on the hilt of his sword.

I got him alright and I was pissed at his accusation that I'd get her in trouble. "Whatever you say, old man," I said to someone who couldn't have been older than thirty.

He nodded, apparently not taking offense. "Alright, so you have some skill in Hohō. Let's see what you can do with a sword. Come on."

I was still smarting from him trying to bully me in the bar and what he'd said about me being a danger to Retsu, so I gave him my best propeller attack. I disapparated to him as I had done when fighting Kenpachi and let through my reiatsu into my body, not letting anything escape my skin. I saw his eyes widen in shock when I appeared right before him but somehow he managed to get his sword between my blade and his neck. Unlike Kenpachi he didn't just block my sword, he came back, attacking each hit, shaking me down to my bones. But soon he disappeared from my eyes and the next thing I felt was something hard hit the base of my neck. Our battle was over within a few seconds.

Darkness spread in my vision and I fell to the ground. He kicked away my sword before my head could stop spinning.

"A Zanpakutō is not a hatchet. A Zanpakutō is a vessel holding the fighting resolve of your spirit, it is a reflection of your very soul, Harry-san. You must be some special kind of an idiot to have a Zanpakutō already without knowing what it is," he said in a wondering tone.

"Go to hell!" I snapped back. I was still reeling from the hit to the back of my head.

"Aye, aye. I wonder how you escaped me so long. It's really not good for my pride to be outdone by a moron." He sighed. "You fight like a thug who's just learned some bastardized Hohō."

I rolled on my back and stared up at the sky suddenly very tired of the game. I knew the smart thing was to let the question remain unasked about why he was tracking me but I couldn't let it be. I took the risk that I was going to undo whatever Retsu had done in the bar to make the man back off. "Why are you following me? What do you want with me?"

He didn't answer but something in his demeanor changed. He wasn't in his jocular and deriding mood anymore. I took the time to stand to my feet and grab my sword while he looked away from me. He scratched his unshaved neck in what I guessed was his thinking tick.

"Boy," he said. "Forget whatever reason I had. It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is you make sure Retsu Unohana doesn't end up paying the price for protecting you." He looked at me seriously with his brows knotted in an intimidating way.

I swallowed my pride at being called 'boy' and again being told I was a threat to Retsu. She thought Isshin could help me, I had to trust her judgment, and that meant trusting him for the moment. "How do I make sure of that?" I asked.

He shook his head as if he didn't know. "The feel of your reiatsu is different than most. Even then there aren't many who could pick you out by just knowing the signature of your spirit pressure. I'm one of the few." He smirked. "Your control is good, when you're paying attention. There might be one way if you're some sort of a genius, and that is to mask or change your signature."

"Mask it?" I asked, not really understanding how that was different than keeping a lid on my reiatsu.

He nodded. "It's just a theory, no one's done it. Probably a stupid idea anyway. You can't try to copy the fragrance of another person, forget copying someone's reiatsu." He waved his hand in a dismissing gesture and sat down. "Look, once you're inside the academy and Seireitei no one is really going to be able to pick you out. I could follow you because there aren't people with reiatsu as powerful as yours that far in Rukongai, and because I'm a genius at picking out subtleties." He grinned at me and I found myself rolling my eyes. The man was dangerous, powerful, and too full of himself, but he was helping me so I tried to let his first and second impression on me not bother me.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Now I teach you the value of a Zanpakutō. Don't draw it to use like a stick you're going to whack someone with." He shook his finger at me like I was a child. I stared at him blankly, waiting for him to continue. "Find the path of your opponent's death before you draw the blade, unsheathe your weapon, kill, and return the weapon to its place in a heartbeat. You understand?"

I arched my brow and tried to think of something intelligent to say that would show I did understand, but I had no clue. "Um, not really?"

He looked heavenward and said a prayer under his breath. "Harry-san, I don't know how much I can teach you before your exam tomorrow. You probably should just wail on your examiner the best you can. You'll pass; they won't have someone like me testing candidates. But I want you to learn something today." He said and stood up motioning me to stand. He drew his sword and rested it on his palms. "Can you tell me what the difference is between a sword and a Zanpakutō besides the spirit in it?"

I shook my head feeling very much like a school boy who'd forgotten to do the assigned reading.

Isshin sheathed his sword and walked to me. Close up to me he towered above me in size and height. He reached for my sword sorely testing my shaky trust in the truce Retsu had forced on us both.

He kept my sword in the sheath and presented it to me. "A sword is a tool of war, Harry-san, but a Zanpakutō is a tool of mercy for both evil and good. Take this Zanpakutō and never forget what it is and respect it."

I took Izanami back from him and held her as if it was the first time. His words moved me but at the same time I wondered what he would say if he saw her revealed. I was skeptical but I didn't show it; I didn't want to look ungrateful for his wisdom.

I didn't know then that I would come to rely, sometimes desperately, on those words of Isshin-san for solace.

* * *

A.N. **Izanami is trying to dominate Harry, just remember that. This isn't a 'squick' fic. It's a powerplay.**


	4. Chapter 4

A.N. This took a long time because I scrapped the first version of this chapter which was half as long as this and utter crap. To make up for the wait here is a 14k word chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

Thanks to Ceebee for edits.

_**Ninjas?**_

She was standing on the balcony outside the second story floor of the hotel waiting for Harry. As always nighttime was lively in the first district. It was usually too hot during the day to do more than work and wait for the sun to set. She fanned herself feeling the glare of dozens of lamps strung across the roofs lighting up the street.

Harry's friend's hair was easy to spot because of the way it shone under the lights. She'd brought Harry from the bar they had met in to the hotel rooms Retsu rented for the night. She turned and went inside the room. The thought that the girl, Matsumoto Rangiku, was more than Harry's friend crossed her mind again. She wondered if she was creating an awkward situation by waiting in his room. She smiled to herself, amused at her own uncertainty about her friend. She forgot how comfortable she'd become living in Seireitei and never meeting someone who would dare take offense to something she did.

It was heartwarming to have someone close to her who wasn't in awe of her. She sat down on the bed folding her legs under with a mischievous smile. She wondered how Harry would react.

The door slid open, and Harry stood framed in the doorway. The look in his eyes showed deep weariness and some need she couldn't identify. She knew her expression betrayed her worry and confusion at the way he was looking at her. He walked to her and sat on his knees in front of her. Before she knew he'd taken her hands in his own and bowed his head.

"Merlin, Retsu..." he trailed off.

She took one hand from his grasp and raised his face so she could look in his eyes. She felt pained at what she saw, she understood that look at a second glace. It was someone seeking forgiveness, looking for deliverance. There wasn't a true warrior who wouldn't recognize the agony bare on his face.

"Lie down," she said, guiding his head to her lap. He resisted only for a moment before lying on his back and pillowing his head on her thighs. "Well, and here I thought a strange woman waiting on your bed would bother you," she teased. "My dear friend, what have you been up to all these months to be used to the sight of a young maiden in your bedroom?"

"Nothing, I swear," he protested but then scowled at her grin when he realized she was playing him. "I forgot I transform into an idiot whenever you're around," he groused and shut his eyes as if he was too tired to be upset with her.

He was still holding her left hand and so she was able to tell from his spirit power's state that the brief levity between them hadn't eased him. She put her other hand on his cheek and prepared herself to mend him like she had so many times in the outlands of Rukongai.

"It's alright, Harry. Let me help you," she whispered quietly. For once she fully braved the strangeness of his spirit and plunged herself into it without caution. And then she was gone from the surrounding world into a place of darkness and intangible sensations.

It was with a shock she realized that she didn't feel any discomfort she usually associated with Harry's reiryoku. She was welcomed wholly and that river she always thought of Harry's power to be lapped at her legs in reality and became steady at her presence. There were footsteps in the suddenly shallow water and as they came closer the darkness inside her mind began to give way to light.

The eldritch brightness worried her. Over the many centuries of her life she had healed thousands by going into the depth of their reiryoku; there should have been nothing but the sensation of someone else's power. Actually feeling a real river that was meant to be only in her imagination and then seeing light was worrisomely new. As the light got closer she saw it emanating from a creature. She walked to it, feeling the wetness of the water and hearing the sound of ripples going out from her.

The animal was made from liquescent white light, pure and soft. It towered over her as a giant but bowed its great antlered head when she neared. She caressed her fingers at the joint of the antler to the head amazed by the feel of warm fur and smoothness of bone. Each eye of the stag was larger than her arm and gazed serenely at her. Looking at it she felt she was in the presence of a divine guardian spirit like she used to read about in mythologies.

"Heal me," a voice said inside her mind. She had no doubt it came from the stag.

At its words she saw the rivulets of red blood running down its flanks. She made a noise of dismay at the wounds on the magnificent creature. The stag sat down so she could reach its sides. Magically the wounds healed under her hands quickly as if all they needed was her touch. She moved from place to place stemming the flow of hot blood unable to discover what had caused the injuries. When she was done she rested against the being's side with her fingers smoothing the fur.

"Who are you?" Retsu asked standing up because her clothes were getting too wet and clinging to her.

"His resolve, his hope," the voice said in her mind.

"Are you his Zanpakutō spirit?" She came around to face him so she could look into the magnificent opal eyes.

The stag snorted, sending water spraying in all directions from the force. "I touched him before her. She is a different creature and I am another. He has forgotten me in the Hell of Rukongai, but he remembered me when he saw you again. Do not leave him," It said and nudged Retsu with its head. It was a gentle gesture but Retsu was pushed back being only a fraction of the creature's size. When she tripped over her feet she found herself returning to the real world.

She blinked a few times to orient herself. The moonlight was streaming in through the cracks in the shutters and the town had gone to sleep. It was almost as peaceful as Seireitei at night. It must be many hours later, she thought to herself at the lack of noise. In her lap Harry was sound asleep. Whatever his worries, they had been washed away. She sighed to herself, releasing the anxiety she'd felt for him for the last four months. He was safe, even if he had been hurt.

His sword laid by his side, she picked it up ignoring the fact she hadn't asked his permission. Harry was too familiar with her for her to feel hesitant about handling his most private possession.

The sword was shorter than she remembered it to be. The handle was wrapped in a traditional design with woven green silk. She was amazed how comfortable it felt in her hand, even though her own sword was far longer. Then her eyes moved to the guard; it looked like it was made from three thin sheets of metal welded on top of each other. They were formed in the shape of a water lily. As the moonlight played on the guard it seemed the black petals moved. She learned the petals were sharp when in a fancy she caressed them. She hissed at the unexpectedly deep cut on her fingers but soon quieted, watching in fascination as the blood on the petals travelled of its own accord to disappear in the small space between the guard and scabbard. She unsheathed the sword to see where her blood was going and felt a chill run through her at the sight.

Her blood was seeping through the surface of the blade into what looked like veins. She watched as the blood traveled up the sword and disappeared underneath the blade collar. When the blood vanished so did the veins that had appeared, leaving a normal looking sword behind. A symbol on the blade collar had glowed a dull red and she fixed on that trying to decipher its meaning. An ornate triangular shape held a circle inside it with a line running through the center. She memorized it before continuing her scrutiny of the sword.

She recognized it to be an uchigatana, straighter than the katana and curved at the point. The length in this case was shorter than the katana. It would not have a great range but it would be quick, she thought to herself. She mused that it would cause a stir when she'd start teaching the sword to Harry; few remembered that her specialty was sword fighting. But even with all her experience she was not familiar with the forms of the uchigatana.

She sheathed the sword in its scabbard, admiring the intricate and lifelike water lily guard on it one last time. It was then she noted that the cut across her fingers was healed. She made a soft noise of surprise staring suspiciously at the deceptive lily. "A sword that drinks blood and heals. I hope your identity crisis isn't reflected in my friend, Zanpakutō-san," she whispered, putting aside the sword.

She sat there wondering for a long time about the guardian spirit, the strange sword that had come to him, and the pain she'd seen in her young friend. She thought back to the divine spirit's reaction to Harry's sword spirit and was not assured.

* * *

The heat from the vast flagstones distorted things on the horizon. I shifted from foot to foot trying to relieve my baking soles. Beside me Rangiku shot me sideways looks every now and then as she had been doing since morning. I hadn't asked what was bothering her; I was disquieted by Retsu's absence when I woke up in the morning.

Rangiku made an impatient noise I was all too familiar with. I caught myself sighing before she'd even launched into her whining. "The suspense is killing me. They could at least have refreshments out or a notice on the gate or someone to say if the exam is cancelled," she said.

I shrugged. "Sounds to me like they're the type who think people should wait on them. We're just rabble from Rukongai, Rangiku-chan," I said, feeling tense myself.

There was a great clear space around the walls of Seireitei; the home of the Shinigami and where the Academy was located. It was there Rangiku and I had arrived at the crack of dawn to wait. At first I'd been worried when no one else showed up, but slowly as the sun climbed the sky more and more people joined us. They were standing in separate clusters based on how well they were dressed. Obviously some of us rough types made residents of the nicer districts nervous. That said, no one was talking to Rangiku or me. She had a bloodstained cloak on and I was wearing western clothes...also bloodstained.

"What makes them so important?" Rangiku huffed.

I knew she knew the answer to that question but I indulged her anyway. "Probably because they live in the best part of this Hell, have super powers, and are convinced they're gods."

Rangiku snorted derisively, a sound which made me smile. It was so at odds with her soft features. "Harry-kun, being reasonable makes you very difficult to like. You should let go and bitch a little."

"You've got that covered for both of us and then some," I shot back with a smile.

She laughed. "I need a partner." But right after that she quieted and lost her good humor.

I'd been happy to see her acting normally again after her weird behavior that morning, so I finally asked, "Who died?"

She gave me a look. "That's my line, Harry-kun. The insensitive thing doesn't suit you."

"Fine. What's wrong then?" I asked.

She gave me that smile she had which was more brilliant than any other and meant that she was desperately trying to hide something. "Don't worry, Harry-kun, I was just thinking it had been fun traveling with you."

I arched a brow in confusion. "And that upsets you?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's over isn't it? You're going to pass and I..."

It took me a moment to understand and then I pinched her arm hard. She yowled in pain. Before she could hit me I said, "I promised you we'd go here together. So why would I be here if you weren't going to pass too?"

She rubbed her arms and said sullenly, "You never promised that."

"I did. You just didn't hear it above the sound of your own whining." I smiled at her but inside I was kicking myself for again making a dangerous promise. I had no idea if she'd pass and I wanted to move on. I _needed_ to make it into the Academy. But even as I thought that I felt sad at the thought of separating from her.

She smiled and leaned on me. "If I have to stand so long, I should get comfortable."

I pushed her away. "It's too hot, just sit on the ground."

She leaned back again. "The damn flagstones will cook my pretty white butt."

And like that I kept pushing her from me and she kept rocking back. I suppose it was one way to pass the time.

I watched my competition. For one there didn't seem to be an age limit. There were children and white whiskered old men in the different circles, all looking away from their conversations now and then to the closed gate. The gate was immense; it was at least four stories tall matching the height of the walls. I wondered what the Shinigami wanted to keep out; if it was just the denizens of Rukongai it seemed a little much.

Rangiku stopped rocking on her heels into me and suddenly walked off. I followed her to the sounds of something that was causing a stir. In just moments the groups that had been keeping a distance from each other were forming a circle around the source of the noise. Rangiku maneuvered through bodies taller and shorter than her showing a skill learned from her thieving days in busy town cities. I wended behind her best I could. I lost sight of her but I did get to see what the hubbub was about. Two men were circling each other with others cheering them on. At the edge of the circle a Japanese girl with wild black hair was squatting like a man taking bets. She had a wide insolent grin on her face. I disliked her immediately.

In a few seconds it was apparent the two men weren't evenly matched, one of them was obviously better trained and was toying with the other. Cries of dismay went up in the air as the match came to an end. The girl laughed and started calling out something I couldn't hear over the din. I stepped ahead to get a better look and noticed that she was heckling a group of wealthy men and women pretending they couldn't hear her. Soon the crowd started helping her get their attention. I saw the color rise high in a delicate woman's cheeks, apparently so did the ill mannered girl, if the increasingly sexually inappropriate bent of her words was anything to go by.

"Very well, I will show you you're just dust in front of nobility!" the svelte woman shouted and entered the empty space.

"Oi, oi, don't get those pure white noble panties of yours in a knot. The men wouldn't forgive me if something bad happened to the pretty little flower you're saving down there," the short haired girl teased to uproarious laughter.

The woman was wearing a traditional dress that restricted her legs; she didn't look like someone who should be in the middle of an impromptu arena, but her enraged face was fierce enough for the venue. "Going to send another dog of yours or will you fight yourself?" the noblewoman asked as she drew a short stick from her voluminous sleeves. She flicked the stick which suddenly extended to a full-sized staff. I 'oohed' along with the crowd at her weapon.

In answer the brash girl sprawled on the ground, resting her head on her hand. "Nah, you're not worth my time. You'll fight my maid."

"As if the likes of you have maids." The noblewoman smiled. "It's alright, I understand you want to keep your hands on the money, but let's change the bet. If I win you will fight me, if I lose, well you get to keep my money and I will give you this staff that was a gift from my father. It's more valuable than anything in the pockets of anyone here."

"Done!" said the girl with all too much enthusiasm.

The noblewoman narrowed her eyes, as if distrusting the girl's enthusiasm. "You remind me of someone very unpleasant. I very much would have liked to beat sense into her, but never got the chance. Maybe putting you in your place will be a consolation."

The sprawled girl sat up giving the noblewoman the full force of her arrogant smile. She looked younger than even Rangiku. "You remind me of someone also, I wanted to beat the hell out of the prissy bitch. I'll enjoy seeing my maid make you dirty up that pretty yukata you're wearing." She turned her head to a woman waiting by her side who was older than her. She motioned her to go ahead.

Her 'maid' looked like any number of women I had seen in Rukongai, plain faced and plainly dressed. She bowed deeply to the noblewoman and apologized for her 'mistress.' The noblewoman didn't return the courtesy but swung the staff in a blur. The maid ducked and swept the legs out from under the noblewoman even faster than the staff's movement. The noblewoman fell in a heap but brought her palm up and began to call out the incantation for the fireball spell. The maid was on her in a second with a small knife pressing at the neck.

The noblewoman went still and said something foul about the maid's parentage. The maid flinched back and stood away. The noblewoman stayed on the ground and stared up at her. "That mark on your shirt, you work for the Shiba clan?" she demanded angrily. Looking past the maid she glared at the girl with choppy hair sitting on the ground. "I did recognize you, you uncultured whelp, finally sunk low enough to be with the dirt of Rukongai like you always -" Whatever she was going to say next was cut off by having her own staff clipping her across her mouth.

The maid was holding up the noblewoman's weapon. "Forgive me, madam, but please just insult me and not my mistress."

At that whatever restraint the noblemen were showing broke, they surged into the clearing and soon it was a free for all. It was hot, people were tense, and after all it was Rukongai. Somehow an all out brawl between the different classes in the Hell of an afterlife was not shocking at all. What was a surprise was that almost immediately another heckling cry had gone up asking for bets.

"Rangiku?!" I tried to shout above the noise. Craning my neck I found her in a clump of people who were trying to place bets as fast as they could. My dear friend was between them grinning like a fool and greedily collecting coins.

It took me a long time to shove through the press of people. By the time I made it to her side the fighting had wound down. People were arguing with Rangiku about who'd won; they weren't making much headway with her considering how badly she was browbeating them. I was sweating from the heat and getting irritated with all the people pushing and pulling around me. So when I finally came to stand behind her I was irritated and letting my spiritual energy escape enough to give people a clear 'don't mess with me' message. At my presence the crowd arguing with her quieted. After giving me wary looks they made their way.

"Oi! This is my gig!" the girl from before appeared with some of her goons. Her maid was with her and had a swollen lip but was otherwise fine.

Rangiku arched her brow and shoved the money in the folds of her robes. "So?"

I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "Let's go. Don't start anything."

"Not so fast! Your girlfriend owes me my loot!" the dark haired girl snapped.

"Like Hell!" Rangiku shouted back. "Let's do this your way, I bet my friend can beat you and all of your servants under a minute. You prove me wrong you get the money, you fail and I get that pretty necklace."

"No!" I said. Just what I needed, two little girls deciding to have a bitch-out and pulling me into it.

The girl shrugged and smiled. "Fine by me, but my brother gave me this necklace. I'll die before I let you have it. Get him!"

I put my hands up. "Wait!" It didn't do me any good.

Her goons and goonettes came at me. Luckily they were only five because they were too good to just brush off. I ducked and weaved; trying to stay out of their reach. I began to unsheathe my sword then thought better of it. Even if they had blades releasing Izanami on them would be too cruel. Some of Isshin-sensei's lessons on 'respecting' the Zanpakutō had also made an impression on me. I hardened my skin so their weapons didn't cut me and decided to put them down quickly with magic.

But I didn't have to. Someone else did. The girl's servants were suddenly on the ground with their arms locked by magic behind their backs. The girl herself was yowling in pain as a Shinigami was twisting her ear and pinning her arms down. I was shocked to recognize him.

"Kukaku-chan," he said sweetly. "What the flying fuck are you doing?"

"Just having a little fun, big bro. Let me go!" the girl, Kukaku, growled out.

He shook her by the ear making her howl again. "Don't 'big bro' me. I sent you to take the test and this is what you're up to?"

"I'm sorry nii-sama, Let me go!" she begged. 'Nii-sama' was a very respectful way to call him elder brother. Rangiku was chuckling beside me. I elbowed her lightly to shut her up.

The Shinigami with choppy black hair like his sister had released his reiatsu; I could tell he was pissed and because of it everyone was keeping a healthy distance from us. I was glad to see Rangiku unaffected by the spiritual pressure. But she had suffered through the full brunt of mine twice and fought at my back for months while I was using my reiatsu as a weapon, so she really should have had a tolerance.

He looked over to us and changed his expression so he didn't look like he was out to kill someone. "Forgive my sister for bothering you. It won't happen again. Apologize, Kukaku." He forced her head down so she was bowing to us. She muttered out a sorry.

I waved my hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it. Besides I owe you for helping me out some time ago," I said.

The tall Shinigami frowned. "I don't remember you."

"You told me what Hollows were and gave me some food to eat at the abandoned shrine in District 4. You'd wanted me to find a safe place." I smiled. "Well, I did."

His expression cleared in remembrance. Leaving his sister he came to me to thump my shoulder forcefully with a smile. For a thin guy he had a lot of strength.

"Glad to see you're alright. I wondered what became of you. But we never found a Hollow so I thought you'd be okay. You remembered me? That was a year ago!" He laughed.

I felt something cold settle in my stomach; 'a year?' It had been that long?

"You were kind. Rukongai is a cruel place, so I remembered. Thank you," I said and meant it. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to thank someone who'd helped me when I was a beggar. I couldn't help the blush that crept up my face from the shame.

"Wow!" he breathed. "And now you're here to try out for the Shinigami Academy." He patted my shoulder a little awkwardly. Maybe he was as uncomfortable with me thanking him as I was. "Hey," he said suddenly. "Do me a favor, watch out for my little sister when you get in?"

"Please take care of me." Kukaku bowed, giving me a shy and sweet look.

Her brother scowled at her and lowered his head to speak to me in a whisper, "Be careful with her, she's a demon. If she's acting nice, she's up to something. You can't trust her. Keep a tight leash on her."

"What?" I blurted. I couldn't believe he was pushing off his belligerent sister on me.

Her brother ignored my outburst and put out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Shiba Kaien."

"I'm Potter...Harry," I said shaking his hand. It was still odd for me to hear people give their last name first. "I'll watch out for your sister, sure," I said, even though I had disliked the girl at sight. "But you don't even know me."

Shiba Kaien shrugged and pointed to my sword. "You didn't take out your sword even though you reached for it. You moved fast enough to avoid my household guards and used your reiatsu marginally even though you could've used more. You could've injured them, I can tell. Someone who practices restraint with his enemies is someone I can trust."

"Yeah, 'restraint,' that's our Harry," Rangiku said in a loud whisper. I couldn't help agree with her but I scowled at her anyway.

I looked over to Kaien's sister and the sullen face she was making at Rangiku. She had her head cocked to the side and hip thrust out. She looked like she was spoiling for a fight.

"It's nice to meet you Kukaku-san. I hope we pass the test," I said, trying to be nice.

"Great!" Kaien said. "I have to go now. No more fighting." And with that he jumped in the air and was running off somewhere before his sister could get a scream in, and she was trying very hard as well.

It was a little awkward when we were left alone. We stared at each other for a moment before Kukaku saluted and said, "Can't believe I'm stuck taking care of you."

"Bad hairstyle and hearing too, you poor girl," Rangiku sighed dramatically. "No wonder your brother handed you off to a stranger."

Kukaku lifted her chin. "Watch it, ginger, or I might steal your boyfriend. I've a thing for glasses."

Rangiku suddenly cooed, "That's sooo cute. But Harry-kun isn't into boys, Kookoo."

I stepped between the two before Kukaku could jump at Rangiku. "Rangiku, stop baiting her. Kukaku-san, I've had enough."

Kukaku smiled brightly. "Whatever you say, Harry-kun."

"That's Potter-sama to you, brat," Rangiku snapped.

I was really at my limit and couldn't help but reveal some of my spirit pressure. It didn't scare Rangiku but she knew I was being serious so shuffled off. Kukaku whipped back as if someone had slapped her. She looked at me warily, then bowed and muttered something about needing to go check on her servants. I walked away and motioned to Rangiku to come. She caught up to me with a skip in her step.

"If you run to the shops you can get us refreshments. See?" she said holding up fistfuls of coins. "I wish we had more time. It'd be nice to buy clothes. We haven't had money for so long."

I smiled lightly. That's my Rangiku, ever the survivor. I hoped I didn't have to see Kukaku too much. Her and Rangiku weren't a pair that would be fun to be around with whether they became friends or stayed enemies.

I watched Kukaku and was impressed to see her helping her goons. The idea of servants was strange to me, but then again some people might find the idea of houselves odd too.

"Hey, look," said Rangiku pointing up.

The sky was full of black butterflies flying towards us. They started landing on people and taking off again to sit on others. Pretty soon everywhere I looked there was a butterfly as big as my hand flitting about. They looked more like small birds than butterflies. When one came to rest on the back of my hand I gazed at it mesmerized for a long time. I wanted to touch its soft wings but held back seeing how delicate they were.

"Harry-kun, what's it doing?" Rangiku whispered. Her eyes were screwed upwards. She was trying to look at the butterfly that was nesting in her orange-red hair.

I ginned. "It's laying eggs."

She made disgusted sounds but didn't move. She tried to swat me when I told her I was joking, but her hand stopped mid-swing. "It's saying something," she said.

I frowned in confusion but then I heard it too. "All Shinigami Academy candidates, give your name to the Hell butterfly."

Around me a chorus went up of people saying their names. But I noticed there were others who were looking around in confusion. I guessed they didn't hear the message. Maybe the butterflies' words were a test as well.

I said my name and it flew off.

Finally the exam to enter the Shinigami Academy began.

* * *

It was late at night. The small number of us whose voices the black butterflies heard were ordered to go to a valley in the cliffs behind the walled off city. I remembered the cliffs; somewhere along them I had met Unohana Retsu for the first time. The valley had a strange quiet quality to it. And the cave yawning at our feet did nothing to ease the sense of impending doom.

Beside me others who the butterflies had selected shuffled every now and then. The sounds of their clothes flapping in the cold wind were like loud whispers. I wished someone would crack a joke and break the oppressive atmosphere. But even Rangiku was solemn and tense.

It had been a while since I'd seen her like that. She'd had the chance to go back to being carefree once we left District 80. But she was once again ready for battle. What she said next made me realize she was being more careful than I was.

"There are others here, watching us from the trees. I think I can sense them. Am I feeling their reiatsu, Harry?" she asked. She had dropped the 'kun' soon after Kukaku had used it with my name.

I shut my eyes and reached with that _other_ sense I had trained so hard which helped me feel out people with spiritual power. Rangiku was right, there were places in the blanket of power I sent out which resisted my faint reiatsu - people were definitely hidden in the trees. "There are quite a few," I confirmed.

Rangiku unsheathed her short sword in answer and moved to my back as naturally as she had done it for months. My hand went to the hilt of my sword but I didn't draw it. Instead I prepared my mind to do magic. The other candidates made surprised sounds at our actions and gave us room or tried to follow what our eyes were seeing. Both Rangiku and I were scanning the trees tops.

"Relax," said a voice next to us. I looked quickly to see Shiba Kaien's sister looking at the trees with her hands crossed. "If they wanted to attack us they would've done it by now," she said.

"Unless they're waiting for the stragglers to show up before they ambush us," Rangiku answered seriously.

Kukaku shrugged. "I don't think anyone else is coming. It's been just us for the last hour."

It seemed people were thinking it was better to be safe than sorry and were following Rangiku's lead. A lot of weapons were shining in the starlight.

_My little flower, you haven't spoken to me in a while,_ my sword, Izanami, spoke suddenly.

_Now's not the time, _I said.

_Now is the best time o' Master of Death, _she said, losing the teasing tone and reverting to the mocking one. _These Death 'gods' of yours are about to attack. They were just waiting for someone to notice. If you can't see them, listen for their swords. You are the master of the Resurrection Stone, you will hear the words of their spirits. _

_Are all swords as chatty as you?_ I asked sullenly.

_No,_ she said in a quiet whisper, _and neither are they as sharp as me. Do not disappoint me, my sweet flower. _

"Disturbing as always," I said out loud and then felt them moving. "Here they come!"

()00000----

Unohana Retsu was touring a ward while half listening to her lieutenant. Her mind was on Harry. It was the day of the entrance exam and she was anxious for him. So when the summons came to report to Commander's office she was relieved. It would take her away from her needy lieutenant and give her something else to focus on than her worry.

It was a beautiful sunny day like it usually was in Seireitei. The city, like many districts of Rukongai, had its own distinct weather. It hardly ever snowed or rained and was always pleasantly warm. Retsu knew she was of the few who liked variety and found those rare off weather days charming. She was thankful for the monotonously fine day because it let her quickly travel the far distance from her division to the headquarters of the Captain's Commander.

The first division under the direct command of the Captain Commander made her a little melancholy. For some reason it always felt deserted. In front of the great doors that led into the meeting hall Retsu wondered why the most important place for the Shinigami Divisions gave off the stench of abandonment. She opened the doors and entered knowing that the old commander did not believe in soldiers being doormen.

As expected she found him alone in the marble floored hall. He stood in the middle of it leaning on his gnarled staff as if he'd been expecting her for the last hour it had taken her to reach his division. She was under no misconception that the man had been unaware of her since she'd gotten within a mile of his hall. He was the greatest and oldest amongst them. She was old herself but was a mere child in the face of more than two thousand years the Captain Commander had been alive.

She bowed respectfully and followed him when he moved to a low table. She sat across from him and not for the first time wondered why the healers from his warring days failed to erase the dozens of scars on his body. Two scars crisscrossed to form an X on his bald head over white brows so long they trailed past his eyes. He studied her from under half closed lids.

"Captain Unohana," he belatedly greeted.

Retsu gave a short bow. "Captain Commander," she said. Even after being a captain under him for three hundred years she still found him distant.

"Today is the Spiritual Arts Academy's entrance exam," he said.

Retsu became wary but managed to keep her expression blank. "It is, sir."

The Captain Commander looked out of the long windows marching along the east and west walls of his hall. Retsu wondered if he had found out about Harry and her involvement with him. Her thoughts ran to Isshin but she knew if anyone betrayed her it wouldn't be Isshin.

"Scions of the noble families still resist coming to the Academy or leave soon after entering it. The exam is not too trying for someone raised in a noble family," he mused out loud.

Retsu breathed in relief. It was an old matter they hardly spoke of but in vague terms because it was a politically volatile subject. She indulged the Commander by repeating what she knew of the situation, "The child arrives at the exam with knowledge of the spiritual arts more advanced than anyone else taking the test. And when they enter the academy the first few years are so easy they leave, using the influence of their family names to gain entry into the army."

The Commander nodded. "They aren't trained how I want them to be. They only know what their families have taught them. They spread the falsehood that the Academy is easy to get out of finishing when they realize how difficult the later years are."

Retsu smiled humorlessly. She understood the true reason why the Commander didn't like the nobleborn to skip the Academy he had set up more than 2000 years ago. "And the influence of the noble families stays strong, despite your best efforts to subsume them properly in the Thirteen Divisions."

The Commander harrumphed but did not correct her. "Their young often don't know the history that led us to the place we are and are too stubborn to learn the hard lessons only taught at the Academy. I can trust you to be discrete, Captain Unohana. Out of the current captains you are the only one who remembers the wars and conflicts caused by the noble families when control of Soul Society was still in their hands. "

"I do," Retsu said, her mind flashed back to dark memories and she soon forced her inner eye away from those visions. "But as great as the reputation of the Spiritual Arts Academy some noble families will stay true to the old ways. Can it be helped?" she asked.

The Captain Commander ran his hand through his long beard. "It's always been an informal practice to coach differently those who are stronger and more gifted than others at the Academy. We are always short of soldiers so it's understood that anyone talented should join the Divisions even while he or she is completing studies."

"Ah, yes," Retsu nodded. "Shiba Kaien is the best example of such a student. A nobleborn who completed the six years in only two, and didn't he pass the entrance exam in only one attempt?"

"He did. It's because of his success that I am about to do what I have been planning for so long. I have even arranged for his sister to attempt the test this year. It was good fate that someone of the four most noble families chose to attend the academy and passed through with such accolades, and now another of his house will be in the inaugural class that should attract all noble houses," said the Captain Commander.

Retsu motioned for him to explain more, she didn't hide her curiosity. Over the academy's long history many great events and changes had seen to it that more and more of the nobility were choosing to attend it, but it had never completely replaced the ancient system of noble houses training Shinigami and sending them to join various divisions.

"I have asked the head teachers to begin an accelerated class. New students will be sorted by their skill and strength level. The best going to the accelerated class where they will be challenged each day. They will be the best to enter the Academy and they will be the best graduates of the Academy. And for them the entrance test to the Thirteen Divisions will be waved," he said.

"For the entrance test to the Gotei 13 to be waved they would have to be exceptional," Retsu said, wondering if the Captain Commander wasn't bowing to pressure from the noble families.

The Captain Commander nodded in agreement and continued, "I have ordered the head teachers to devise such a program that will break even scions of noble families raised learning the spiritual arts from childhood. It will become a matter of pride for the noble families to have theirs accepted in what I call Class One, first amongst all." The Captain Commander stomped his staff once on the floor, indicating the passing of a decree as was his manner.

Unohana Retsu arched her brows and said, "Impressive." It had been a long time since she'd seen the Captain Commander speak at such length or with so much passion. But the Academy was one of his greatest achievements in the history of Soul Society and a symbol of the peace he had forged. "It has been needed for a long time. I'm certain the nobles will feel that they finally have a place in the Academy which maintains their superior status," she found it difficult to keep the bite of sarcasm out of her tone. She was surprised to see the Captain Commander smile.

"Oh, and they will pay for that place, Captain Unohana, and that's why I've called you," he said. "Today's exam will be more brutal than any other. I need a few of your best healers at hand. Some will need to be saved right at death's door."

Unohana wondered how the test could be made even more difficult. Even powerful and skilled candidates failed it every year. It was rare for anyone to pass the test on the first try. Most who were admitted to the academy were testing at least for the second or third time. "May I ask what you're planning, Captain Commander. The exam has always been quite difficult, regardless of what some noble families might say."

"This year I've invited some of those very noble families to watch the exam. I intend to prove once and for all that the Thirteen Divisions are no place for spoiled brats who have nothing but the 'noble' recommendations of their sires to back up their skills," he said and stroked his beard again, apparently having forgotten Retsu's question.

"And how will you prove that, Captain Commander?" she prompted.

He opened his half lidded eyes all the way giving her a piercing look. "I will make them walk the Bridge of Regret."

Unohana Retsu's heart skipped a beat. "In that case I shall accompany you myself, Captain Commander. I presume you will be attending."

"I knew you would understand, Captain Unohana," he said.

Retsu smiled. The oldest and most powerful Shinigami had finally succumbed to dementia, and there was no one to stop him. So she smiled some more and prayed for Harry.

* * *

So it wasn't a coincidence we were told to stop by a cave mouth. When they came out of the trees like a storm of wasps we were pushed back into the yawning opening in the ground. It sloped slowly down and buried us in utter darkness. They had been hard enough to see when we were outside, once inside the cave we couldn't see anything. If they didn't get us, the wildly swinging swords, spears, and edged weapon of the nervous Shinigami candidates would slice us up.

"Rangiku lead the way, I'll watch your back!" I shouted over the din of shouts and shoved back whoever was pushing me in the darkness. We had locked hands behind our backs so we didn't get separated.

"Are you nuts? You want to go deeper in the tunnel?" she shouted. I heard her sword go _snickt snackt_ in the blackness, I wondered if she was making any distinction between the attacking Shinigami or the other poor sods getting attacked with us.

"No other way, we need room to fight!" I shouted. I raised my palm and a huge fireball erupted from it meeting the rushing Shinigami at me full in the body. It threw him into the tunnel ceiling.

Others decided that was a great way to get some light into the cave we'd been forced into. Soon several fireballs and other flashy Kidō spells lit up the darkness.

"What the Hell?" I cursed, getting pulled backwards by Rangiku. "Ninjas? We're being attacked by ninjas? Izanami, you said they were Shinigami."

_They are, my pet, _she said.

I couldn't believe my eyes; in fitting black uniforms with veiled faces and short swords there were ninjas in our midst taking down people or flying at them. They made quick work of the ones using magic to light up the cave. In quick flashes I saw one sweep the legs from under a man and bring down his sword in the same movement to leave a gash across his chest. All the Kidō spells were useless, they were all bright and flashy. I was going to have to rely on my own magic or my Zanpakutō if I was forced.

So far Rangiku and I had escaped battle, knowing the value of a quick retreat. But the debacle with the Kidō spells had reduced the numbers that were acting as human shields for us. I could sense fast moving people from the spiritual pressure they exerted everywhere.

"Duck, Rangiku!" I shouted in the inky blankness. "Wadiwashi!" I incanted blindly thrusting out my hand and my sheathed sword. I sensed the spiritual pressure of the Shinigami running to attack me halt and then get blasted back. I didn't wait to hear him crash, I just grabbed Rangiku and began running away. Thank Merlin, I knew invisible spells.

"How can they see us but we can't see them?" Rangiku asked breathing hard by my side.

"They're ninjas," I said.

"Harry!" she shouted just as I felt the Shinigami at my side. His blade felt dull against my hardened skin but it was still a powerful blow. I scratched Rangiku's hand as I failed to be torn away from her.

_Use me, o' Master of Death. With me you will feel their presence. Do not fear them, there is nothing more terrible than me in the night! _she intoned in my mind.

My hand went to the hilt of its own accord and I freed Izanami. I didn't call her name, I didn't want anyone to see her truly unleashed. I was trying to pass the test not end up being executed for having a monster for a sword. An edge scratched across my face, I took a knee or a blunt steel weapon to my ribs, and got thrown from side to side as my enemies used me like little more than a football.

I could sense where they were, I could feel them coming at me, but it didn't do me any good. They were too fast and too many. They were ninjas, it was futile. The best I could do was keep feeding my spiritual power to my body to harden it against injury.

_You still can't wield me, my stumbling flower, _Izanami said in disappointment. _This is degrading. Cast your magic, something wide reaching and dramatic. I will not be satisfied otherwise. _

I was on the ground and then kicked so hard that I went flying into the walls of the cave. I didn't come all that way or beg and steal in Rukongai to lose this close to my goal. "_Arresto Momentum!" _I shouted.

My Zanpakutō glinted in the inky darkness and the kicks and blades stopped raining on me. "Lumos," I cast to find the blade of my sword come aglow with a blinding white light. "There you are," I said smiling from my cut up lips. They were suspended in air or frozen on the ground, staring at me from the narrow slits for eyes in their veils.

Rangiku got to them first. She was cut up badly but with an enrage scream she sliced into the chest of a Shinigami. He could do nothing more than stand frozen and bleed. I rushed to her and held back her arm. "Don't kill them. We're not in Rukongai. We might fail the test."

"Fuck the test! They're trying to _kill_ us!" she shouted back and ripped her sword arm from me.

I grabbed the front of her robes and pulled her to my face. "Don't kill them. I want to get in, I'm not going back to Rukongai. Knock them out, cut up their arms or legs, but don't hit a vital point."

She pushed me away and I could see she was injured badly, but she just went to the next Shinigami, a woman, and stabbed her through her leg. The Shinigami moaned but couldn't do anything. I knocked her out with a spell and cast stupefies at the other five before Rangiku could drag herself to them. In the next moment we heard running steps. Rangiku turned to face the threat as did I, but it was just the press of other candidates who were running from the Shinigami.

The herd had been thinned. It looked like they'd gone through a meat grinder, not a face or body was free of injury and blood. I noticed Kukaku in the middle, trying to keep herself from being trampled on by people taller and bigger than her. I stepped into the middle of the stamped and released spiritual pressure in the shape of a large spear head. It forced the people coming at me apart. They fell to the sides, running past me but too worn to take me on. I used the flash steps technique to get to Kukaku's side in a moment.

She took my hand and matched my speed to run back to Rangiku who was leaning against a wall. Both the girls were wounded badly. I put my hands on Rangiku's side and began casting healing spells. "They're really trying to kill us," I said in late hitting shock.

"It's not supposed to be this hard," Kukaku said in a shaky voice. "Big bro said it's a killer, but he wouldn't have told me to come if he really thought I was gonna die." She slumped next to Rangiku keeping her arm tight across her chest and a cut up hand in her lap.

"You're not going to die," Rangiku said, surprisingly softly to the younger girl. "Harry will take care of you. Any more of those bastards coming behind you?"

She shook her head. The bright light from my sword made strange shadows on her face. "They disappeared suddenly. My strength is Kidō so I was using that but when they started targeting the Kidō users I just started running. They were picking us off as they liked. I couldn't see shit! I don't know where they went off to."

I shared a look with Rangiku. She cursed. "Damn, those fools."

"What?" Kukaku demanded.

"Kukaku-san," I said gently. "They pushed us into this cave and made us run through this tunnel. If they stopped chasing you, it means only one thing…"

"I don't understand," Kukaku said.

"You've never been in a real battle have you?" Rangiku asked, again not unkindly. "It's an ambush. Whatever is ahead at the end of the tunnel is going to try to finish us off."

Kukaku was pale skinned anyway but she looked whiter after Rangiku's words. "Here," I said, taking her arm away from her chest. She couldn't hold back the whimper of pain. "Shit," I cursed.

"Tsk, they tried to cut your tits off," Rangiku said. "Bastards!"

"Kukaku-san, you'll be alright. It won't even scar," I said. With that I put my hands over the wound and cursed inside at how deep it was. That she was still alive was amazing. At once I felt her spiritual power and understood why she had survived, she was very powerful, and her reiatsu was helping her stay alive.

"Oh god, that feels good," Kukaku said. Rangiku snorted by her side. "I was sure I'd be disfigured for life. Thank you… Potter-san," she said with a lot more respect than I expected from her.

"I promised to look out for you, no need to thank me," I said. From the corner of my eye I caught Rangiku rolling her eyes at me while making sure Kukaku saw her doing it. "Your hand," I said taking the mangled thing. "What happened?"

"Some idiot is using a hammer. He thought I was one of the secret forces," KuKaKu explained. "I hope he's alive so I can break his hand."

"Harry, you should heal yourself too," Rangiku reminded me. "Here I'll hold your sword over you so you can see better." She took the naked blade before I could say anything. Rangiku hadn't handled my Zanpakutō unsheathed since Izanami had wakened. I was afraid of what was going to happen.

_Hmm…her blood might be sweet, she loves you so, little flower, _Izanami said.

With a lot of concentration I buried the fear. _Please,_ I said in my soul.

_Shush, why would I harm someone who is tending to my pet. Heal yourself, o' Master of Death, the truly powerful are ahead of us. Run less and kill more next time_. With those words of 'wisdom' she quieted and I healed my wounds in silence while Kukaku admired how well I had healed both her and Rangiku.

"That is really high level Kidō. Where'd you learn, looks like you had an amazing master, how many years did it take you?" she asked rapid fire.

"Harry's a natural. He learned fighting rapists and murderers in Rukongai, and while taking over whore houses in Districts 70 to 80. I think it took him two years," Rangiku answered.

I could've told her to shut up but I didn't think anyone would believe her when she told that story in that ditzy cheerful tone she used to confuse people. Looked like it distracted Kukaku well.

"He's amazing for a kid isn't he?" Rangiku said.

"I'm older than you," I said moving to my face to cast the spells.

"You _look_ older," Kukaku corrected. "But you feel younger. Even I'm older than you. Though you act older than both ginger-chan and me."

"What?" I mumbled, feeling the cut on my lip disappear.

Rangiku sighed. "He's a genius, but he's an idiot when guessing people's ages. He's only been in Rukongai for a year or two, his sense hasn't developed yet. He probably thinks I'm thirteen because I look thirteen."

Kukaku ohh'd in understanding. I was still lost.

"Whatever, I thought you were fifteen," I said. "It's time to go." I put out of my mind Rangiku and Kukaku's conversation about ages.

Rangiku twirled my sword in her hand making a blurry circle of white light. "Ha, this is fun," she said.

"Yeah, I'm the kid," I said sarcastically, taking Izanami back before she decided she didn't like getting dizzy.

"I didn't even want to be here, I don't want to walk into an ambush," Kukaku complained but started walking in the direction where others had run off to.

"Then go back," Rangiku said following her leaving me in her wake.

"And put a stain on the Kaien clan name? Brother would kill me," she said.

"Let's get this over with then," I said. "I'm sick of being pushed around."

"Finally!" Rangiku cheered and flash stepped away disappearing from sight. She was releasing her reiatsu to harden her skin and it gave her a reddish glow, enough to light her way.

"Is that ginger of yours insane?" Kukaku looked over her shoulder at me. I liked her better without her arrogant smile.

I shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, she's going to bait them, let them spring the trap and then I will turn the tables to ambush _them_."

"And my brother trusted me with you? You're crazier than I am. You two have done this before?" she asked.

"Many, many, many times. Let's go, she's gotten faster in the past few months." I flash stepped to her and picked her up bridal style to run on air.

I honed on Rangiku's reiatsu trail and caught up with her within a few seconds. Kukaku shouted in my ear, "I'll help ginger-san, put me down!"

I hadn't thought of what I was going to do with her once we go the tunnel's end, so I stopped to let her down. She didn't wait a breath and flash stepped away rushing behind Rangiku. I was impressed, the girl was much faster than Rangiku to have caught up with her so fast. She stayed one step behind her, letting Rangiku take the lead. I already knew she was strong, I just hoped she knew how to use that power and trailed both girls.

Within a couple of minutes I saw a half circle of light far ahead and guessed that was where the tunnel stopped. Rangiku shouted back to get ready. I slowed down so I didn't burst through the opening too soon after her. The plan would only work if the trap was sprung before I was caught in it.

Kukaku was chanting something as she was running. I guessed she was preparing a Kidō spell from the weird incantation. "Burn the cicadas of the third heaven, fiend god king, let the south wind color the face of man …RED!" she shouted as she shot through the opening behind Rangiku.

There was a tremendous burst of sound, red and gold light exploded as flames hurtled past the opening.

_I wasn't pleased last time, my pet. Something more dramatic than just freezing them in place. My son will not be shown up by a tom girl,_ Izanami said as I passed the sparkling flames of Kukaku's Kidō spell.

I smiled suddenly in a good mood. "As you wish, _o' Goddess of Death_."

* * *

Unohana Retsu's team was already healing the ones who hadn't made it out of the tunnel. They had all failed the exam. The Spiritual Arts Academy wouldn't accept anyone who didn't make it out of the tunnel. The ones who did would be divided up based on how they fared against the challenges awaiting them. No one had yet made it to the last stage, the Bridge of Regret. The Captain Commander had acquiesced to her request to let her heal the ones who made it past the ambush at the end of the tunnel before they attempted the final exam.

She stood in the air overlooking the cave mouth opening and the beginning of the bridge. She couldn't believe she was standing once again after centuries of having forgotten the place where Shinigami who had betrayed Soul Society met their end. To walk the bridge was to die an agonizing and slow death. The stone of the bridge sucked the spiritual power of a Shinigami like some beast drinking the blood of its kill. The bridge was the fate of someone they hated, someone they reviled, someone for whom a quick death was an undeserved mercy.

The greater the spiritual power the longer a Shinigami could walk the bridge that touched the edges of the widest canyon in all of Soul Society. There were days that clouds would be so thick together that it was impossible to see the end of the bridge and it seemed to just disappear into space. Retsu turned her mind from bad memories of the bridge to her more immediate worry. Harry hadn't appeared from the tunnel. Had he failed? Was he injured? Was he alive?

A Shinigami from the secret corps appeared kneeling in front of them. He addressed the princess of the Shihoin clan. "We found seven of ours trapped in some kind of paralyzing Kidō field, they were wounded and knocked out. We have taken them to the healers. There don't seem to be any left in the tunnel."

The young princess nodded seriously. Retsu worried that the dark beauty's golden headdress was too heavy for her, but admired the way she was able to stand with the proper poise as expected of someone of her station. As a princess of the Shiohin clan which traditionally headed the secret corps of soul society outside of the Thirteen Divisions, Retsu had no doubt that she was a skilled warrior. Just then wrapped in golden and peach colored robes she didn't seem the deadly woman she must have been trained to be.

"Check again," the princess said. "I sense something approaching the cave mouth. Kuchiki-dono, I think your men haven't noticed," she spoke to the captain of the sixth division, the head of another of the highest noble families in Soul Society. Retsu knew the Captain Commander had requested Kuchiki's division to help with the test because his grandson was one of the 'brats' who'd refused to take the test. If the Kuchiki clan itself was part of the examiners they could no longer disparage the test.

Retsu watched as the Shinigami from Kuchiki's sixth division followed the signal to ready themselves. They were ringed around the cave mouth and covered the sky above, packed around in a sphere of bodies with weapons turned inwards. Everyone who had escaped the cave mouth had faced a world of swords pointed towards them. Very few had broken through, even though the Shinigami had been ordered not to fight at full strength.

"Are you enjoying yourself Byakuya-san?" Retsu addressed Kuchiki's grandson who had tagged along to watch the entrance exam. Little did he know that the show was being put on to convince people like him to join the Academy instead of using noble status to enter the Thirteen Divisions.

"Seems like no one talented tries out for the Spiritual Arts Academy, Unohana-sama. It's disappointing," he said in a bored manner. Retsu hummed in answer and pretended not to notice when the princess of the Shiohin class slapped the back his head with her golden plated fan.

"Whoever these stragglers are, are probably at the end of their endurance. I doubt we will see anyone worthy of taking your final test, Captain Commander," the white mustachioed captain of the sixth division spoke. "We could move on to the last test for the ones who performed well against my men."

"If it pleases you, Kuchiki-dono," The princess spoke before the Captain Commander could, though Retsu knew the old Commander was going to ignore Kuchiki. "My friend, Shiba Kukaku, hasn't appeared yet, and I sense her reiatsu. If there are any worthy of the last test, she is one of them. You won't be disappointed."

The old patriarch of the Kuchiki clan bowed shortly, giving way to the princess's request. Retsu's eyes snapped away from the nobles around her to the cave mouth; she'd felt Harry's spiritual pressure. A redheaded girl shot through and halted in the air seeing the Shinigami awaiting her. Retsu noted the glow of her reiatsu and knew Harry must've been teaching his friend. She recalled fondly watching Harry make a fool of himself in the outlands while glowing silver or white. Right behind her another girl appeared wearing the symbol of the Shiba family. She cast a Kidō spell that formed twirling lights on her legs and rushed up her body to explode from her arms out at the Shinigami in brilliant gold and red.

"Ah, Kukaku, the greatest fireworks Kidō expert in Soul Society!" the princess laughed.

The fireworks created two holes in the crucible the Shinigami of the sixth division had formed around the cave mouth. The relatively harmless Kidō spell did nothing more than startle them out of the way and they soon attacked the girls. Retsu felt a spike in spiritual pressure and knew Harry was through the cave mouth before she saw him blur into existence in front of the girls to take the sword strikes on his body.

Rangiku moved under his outstretched arm and struck at an attacking Shinigami's leg. Her sword missed and Retsu watched as Harry pulled both the girls down to the ground using flash steps. Before they could close in on them Harry raised both hand in the air and shouted "Way of Destruction, sixty-three!"

Twain twisters of yellow energy burst from his hands towards the sky, the twisters hurtled past them where they were standing in the sky to pierce the cloud cover. The same energy crawled down to his arms and shot off to the sides in lances of burning power. The attack formation of the Shinigami broke into disarray as they were slammed with the magic or repelled by the release of Harry's oppressive spiritual pressure. It was a grand display of power. Retsu sighed inside, Harry had made sure several squads of Kuchiki's division would have to be bedridden.

The afterimage of the yellow energy hadn't disappeared when he rose into the air and targeted the largest two groups of Shinigami who'd broken off from the main formation. This time he didn't shout out the spell. There was a moment when there was only a blip of white light in his palms and then suddenly blue lightning bloomed from his arms in wide spreading cones. A moment later the deafening thunder roll wed to that particular spell assaulted their ears. Just the power of the sound was enough to make Kuchiki Byakuya stumble where he stood. Tendrils of azure lightning chased down and struck the Shinigami before they could flash step away or shield themselves. Dozens of Captain Kuchiki's Shinigami fell from the sky. Retsu worried for their lives, and Harry's fate if they died. The magic he was casting was merciless.

"I can't believe it! He cast the Thunder Canon, a level 88 destructive spell without an incantation. Who is he?" Retsu's lieutenant blurted. She didn't appreciate the question so she ordered him to go help the injured Shinigami. The Captain Commander had expected the candidates to be at death's door not his soldiers, she wondered what he thought of the situation now.

"Well, I didn't expect that we would actually need the back up my men were to provide yours, Kuchiki-dono," the princess said. She was frowning and searching the battlefield with her eyes worriedly. "Do you mind if I order them in?"

"Eh, no need," Byakuya spoke before his grandfather could answer the princess. "No one is watching those two silly girls, they're just focused on that guy. I bet if I take out his friends he will lose his fighting spirit," he said and shot off from the air to join the fight.

Captain Kuchiki was stuck in mid motion of stopping him. He composed himself seeing that his grandson was too far to hear him and said, "Forgive his impetuousness, he's young, and I believe he will learn his lesson."

The princess's frown deepened. "As long as he doesn't tangle with that young man. Byakuya hasn't fought anyone of his level before. One of those 'silly' girls is Shiba Kukaku, for Byakuya she is more than a match."

"He isn't going for her," Retsu said while her eyes were focused on Harry who was fighting the Correctional Squad of the special forces. His hands were aglow with pulsating magic of swirling colors. He was sending destructive and binding spells of differing powers at them. But the Correctional Squad were the elite and used to fighting in close. They got inside his defenses and flitted out of the way of his spells with ease. Harry's long ranging magic was not helping him.

Retsu turned her eyes from him to look for Rangiku who Byakuya was targeting. The young Kuchiki scion was diving with his sword at Rangiku who hadn't noticed him. She was busy with other Shinigami who were punishing her badly. Retsu was amazed how the girl could stay standing after taking so much injury.

Retsu didn't have to look to know everyone around her was following the Kuchiki grandson. Byakuya yelled some war cry. The redheaded girl finally noticed him. She took two long flash steps behind to get away from her duel and threw her sword in the air. "Wadiwashi my Wakizashi!" she shouted. The thrown sword moved so fast it disappeared from sight and pierced right through Byakuya in the air. He bowed and dropped to the ground with a pitiful cry of agony.

"Oh no," Retsu whispered. She moved to go to him but the elder Kuchiki stepped in front of her.

"This is the price of arrogance. My grandson must learn this lesson, Captain Unohana," he said with his back to her.

"Your grandson will be too dead to learn any lessons, Captain Kuchiki. Despite your wishes I have a duty I am sworn to perform. Don't stand in my way again," Retsu said quietly and stepped so fast around the other captain she knew he wasn't able to follow her. Her gentle manner made her colleagues forget sometimes that she was the oldest of the captains still in command. She wasn't some nurse they could order to stop.

"It's too late, that other man is there," the princess said.

Retsu saw Harry by Byakuya's side. He had pulled the sword from the little boy's chest and was holding him in his arms and performing healing Kidō. The two girls were desperately trying to protect Harry and fight the Shinigami. Retsu was sure that at the sight of their captain's grandson's fallen body the Shinigami of sixth division were in a vengeful fury. In their anger they weren't holding back anymore and with quick, cruel attacks they threw the girls on the ground. Their life's blood was mixing with the dirty earth.

Then the blades started raining down Harry and Unohana Retsu couldn't take it anymore. She took off the white cloak signifying her captain status and rushed to the ground with her reiatsu flowing as freely as she could allow without causing damage. She landed by Harry who looked up startled when the Shinigami fell back from her. She took Byakuya's small body from him, noticing that the boy was healed and just weak.

"Walk the bridge and you'll win," Byakuya said to Harry. "Thank you."

Retsu cradled the eleven year old boy in her arms and nodded to Harry, hoping her distant expression warned him away from saying anything. "Do as the boy says. If you can make it to the bridge and cross over you will pass the exam. Good luck."

"Take care of him. He shouldn't have been here," Harry said to her. She hardened her heart knowing that if she didn't the look of his bloodied and worn face that would make her betray herself.

"Don't forget to hope. Use the power inside you," Retsu said, giving him permission to release as much of his spiritual power as he needed. She knew he'd understand her message. She flash stepped away into the sky where the nobles and the Captain Commander were standing.

The princess moved to her to check on the boy immediately. His grandfather stood stoically and watched the battle below. "How is he alive?" the princess asked.

"That young man healed him, at the peril of his own life. His two companions fell while protecting him so he could heal him. My healing squad should be taking care of the girls now," Retsu said and cast her eyes to the ground where she was shocked to find that Harry had a hand on the chest of each girl and was healing them while the Shinigami attacked him. He had taken her casual mention of using Reiatsu to strengthen his skin to a ridiculous level. He was bearing the strikes without moving or letting up the healing Kidō, the girls were shimmering in the green light of his spell.

The princess followed Retsu's eyes to the ground and sucked in a breath. "Captain Commander, allow me to call this off. It's gone on long enough," she demanded.

The Captain Commander stroked his beard. "The test doesn't end till he falls. That is the measure we have used for every other candidate today and that is the measure we will use for him."

Retsu could see that the princess was taken aback. She herself was surprised to see such compassion from the head of the clan who was responsible for the assassins employed by Soul Society. "The Commander is right, it wouldn't be fair to the others if we choose to say that this young man has done enough. We took them to the end of their limits, so we must take him to his breaking point as well," Retsu said, knowing the credibility of the Spiritual Arts Academy was on the line. She wanted to spare Harry the pain but by appealing for him then she would betray the Captain Commander's purpose for the show and he would become very suspicious of Harry.

"As you wish then," the princess said haughtily. "If he must fall for this to stop, then I will ensure it." She raised her hand in the air and made an unintelligible hand signal.

"Wait," Retsu said. The situation on the ground had changed.

Harry was levitating the two girls with his magic to his sides, they were still aglow with healing Kidō. He was walking slowly to the foot of the Bridge of Regret. The Shinigami of the sixth division had given up attacking him. They struck out at him half heartedly. Retsu was glad that no one of true power was down there to break through Harry's reiatsu enforced skin. It was the only defense he had. But he still stumbled and fell when one of them idly thought to cut him. There were cracks in his defense, evidenced by the tears of blood running down his body here and there. He looked like a dying man, and that was perhaps why the Shinigami had stopped attacking him in earnest.

"Looks like the young man knows to walk the bridge," the Captain Commander commented.

"I told him," Byakuya admitted weakly from within Retsu's arms.

"Tsk, not one of those children down there forced him to use his sword. He's shown proof of every other quality we might look in for a Shinigami, endurance, strength, loyalty, talent, but can he even hold a sword?" the Captain Commander continued. "Hmm, pathetic fools, making me test him myself." In the next instant the wizened commander of the Gotei 13 disappeared from their midst and appeared by Harry's side.

"Bloody hell," Unohona Retsu echoed one of Harry's curses.

* * *

Blood was streaming in my eyes. Every step I took felt like torture. I wanted to jump in ice water so it numbed my body and there was no more pain. Instead I dragged myself to the edge of a narrow stone bridge with no railings to hold on to. The Shinigami had stopped attacking me, even to them I looked dead on my feet. I felt much worse.

I wish I could've listened to Retsu and released my spiritual strength, but I had to heal Rangiku and Kukaku, and healing Kidō doesn't do well with my reiatsu going crazy. So I opened the tap as much as I could and let it flow in my body and to them.

Suddenly an old man with a short staff appeared beside me. He was older than any man I'd ever seen. Even his bald head had wrinkled skin.

"So young man, do you plan on carrying your friends over the bridge?" he asked.

I was so tired it took me a few second to come up with the answer, "Yes."

"It's not going to happen. I've decided to fail you," he said.

"Why?"

"You haven't fought with your sword yet," he said.

"Go to Hell," I said wearily. "You're going to fail me for just that?" I said and stopped because we'd arrived at the foot of the bridge. I noticed for the first time that while before the other Shinigami were dogging my heels now they were following at a distance.

"I will wait at the end of the bridge for you. If you don't die on the way you will have to fight me with your sword there and if you're satisfactory I will let you join the Academy," he explained. "Curse at me again and I will rip your tongue out and put it to fire."

"Fine, as long as you allow Rangiku and Kukaku into the academy too," I said.

The old man turned his face to me for the first time and opened one half lidded eyes slightly. If I was less exhausted I would've stepped away from the menacing reiatsu he released. Any thought I had that he would be easy to beat because he was old was dashed to pieces.

"You don't negotiate with me, boy. But if you wake up those two and bring them over the Bridge of Regret with you, I will allow them in, regardless of how you do with a sword. But you…you will have to impress me to get in," he said and disappeared from sight. I couldn't even follow the trail of his reiatsu.

"Just have to cross that bridge? That's easy," Rangiku muttered from the ground. She was slowly coming to her feet.

Kukaku grunted and got up too. "It's the Bridge of Regret, it drinks spiritual energy. It will weaken you so much that you will fall and then die. It's supposed to be painful."

"I wish you'd stayed asleep," Rangiku said.

"So we just have to run fast?" I asked.

Kukaku snorted but she was too weak to sound arrogant. "And have great, massive, enormous spiritual energy. They used to kill people by making them walk on this. "

"Get on my back, Rangiku," I said.

"It won't work," she said but climbed my back all the same. I turned around and picked up Kukaku who was too tired to resist me.

"I'm going to give you my spiritual power. It will hurt, but right now I'm the strongest of us, this is the only way. Rangiku, don't be afraid of me," I said, knowing she couldn't stand it when I let go of my control.

"Why would she be scared?" Kukaku asked.

I released the power inside me and felt the ground around me depress at the force of my spirit power. I ran onto the stone bridge and howled in pain. It felt like rods of steel punctured the soles of my feet to tear into the muscles of my leg. The stone was like a vampire sucking blood.

_Keep running, o' Master of Death. If you truly understood what you are this wouldn't even be child's play. Reach deep inside you for the will to win, to survive. Run, my little flower._ At the heel of Izanami's words I felt my strength triple and soon I was rushing over the bridge drunk on pain and adrenaline.

I could feel the stone draining reiryoku from the girls and fed them constantly. My feet began to slip as blood made my soles slick. There was no sensation in my legs but pain. My chest burned and my eyes teared. Next to me clouds roiled making me wonder how far up we were. It may have been a fantastic view but all I could take in was the grey stone that made the bridge and the darkness that flanked the corners of my vision.

Rangiku and Kukaku weren't saying anything. I thought they'd passed out. If I allowed myself a moment of doubt I would've fallen over and feinted as well. But whenever I weakened Izanami chastised me or encouraged me. It was the first time I came to rely on her.

Finally the bridge that had been rising began to slope down. I was past the crest and the halfway point. The pain had crossed to my hips and into my ribs. I'd pounded my bones to dust, I was sure, and I began to wonder if I would have enough reiryoku to make it to the end.

_Is there an end to death? Only death is the end,_ Izanami answered my question in her typical fashion.

I lost my concentration and fell to one knee. I became stuck. I didn't have strength to get up with Rangiku slumped on my back and Kukaku boneless in my arms. I screamed and pushed my leg up, but my muscles trembled and crashed. I wept in frustration and felt my throat tighten. I couldn't lose, not so close.

* * *

Unohana Retsu hung in the air with the nobles and looked down on the Bridge of Regret. They had followed in the air above Harry, watching him run at incredible speeds. When he crested the halfway point of the bridge even Captain Kuchiki commented that he didn't know of anyone who had performed that feat. But Harry was three quarters of the way and had fallen to his knees.

"To think he's come this far while feeding his reiatsu to two others, if he wasn't burdened with them he would've run the length of the bridge," the princess said. "He has strength still but he's too worn to use it."

Retsu was impressed with the young princess to have that kind of discernment at her age and experience. She must be powerful and skilled far beyond her years. The Captain Commander appeared on the bridge in front of Harry, and took Retsu's attention. With the same mind the nobles and Retsu dropped closer to hear what was going to be said.

"So you've given up. Is this all you can do after you struck a bargain with me? Children, pathetic! Thinking they can be Shinigami. You've lost, go home," the Captain Commander said. "No, stay here and die, there's no way you can move from here."

Retsu saw the light forming around Harry before she felt the pressure of his spiritual power. There were many powerful in her company that day but Harry still managed to make them take notice. He levitated Kukaku and Rangiku away from him, each was suspended in the same white light that surrounded him. He was still on his knees as the light grew and the spiritual pressure became volatile and wild. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword. Retsu noticed that he was now wearing his sword in iaido style like Isshin.

As his hand touched the Zanpakutō the spirit pressure exploded, making wind scream around him. Some nobles moved back but Retsu kept her place watching intently the shape that was forming from the light of his reiatsu. The tempest of force Harry kneeled in took the shape of a great antlered skull of a stag. The white antlers seemed to be lowered ready to gore the Captain Commander while green flames licked around the points and lit up the skull eyes. _It's come to his aid,_ Retsu thought to herself with relief.

"So you've found your resolve," the Captain Commander said. "Come at me then, toddler, or do you need me to lift you off your feet."

The spiritual pressure disappeared and sound died as if they'd been transported into the emptiness of space. Retsu saw Harry draw his sword and move simultaneously, sound returned full force with his reiatsu choking the oxygen in the air. Harry struck the Captain Commander in a smooth motion, moving diagonally from the right to the left.

Sadly the movement was easy to predict. She knew he'd lost before the sword even fell. At the end the Captain Commander stopped the blade with the palm of his hand, and Harry fell to his knees breathing heavily. His blue pants were soaked with blood starting at his hips, the soles of his shoes had torn off to show his mangled feet. The sores on the soles made the princess next to her curse under her breath.

"He should be dead," the princess said. "Or he will be soon. If he survives I will bring him into my special forces. He has the pain threshold needed for the training my house will give him."

_He's mine_, Retsu thought to herself, not responding to the young princess.

Retsu followed the Captain Commander's eyes to the see the two girls were still floating in the air cocooned in Harry's reiryoku. He threw away Harry's sword from himself with a jerk. He was looking at his palm.

"Hmm, I'm impressed, he gave me a paper cut. Someone needs to teach him how to hold a sword though," the Captain Commander said, addressing them all.

"So we passed the test, sensei?" Harry groaned from the ground where he was on all fours.

The Captain Commander harrumphed. "Impertinent toddler, calling me sensei before I've taught you anything. Yes, you've paid in blood and soul the price required to be a Shinigami. I will be watching you closely Potter Harry."

Retsu breathed in relief. She motioned to the healing squad waiting behind her to take Harry and the girls. The Captain Commander appeared beside her. "I was thinking of a Class Zero for this child, a double accelerated class, something for those nobleborn brats to aspire to who will make it into Class One."

Retsu smiled and prayed for Harry.


	5. Chapter 5

A.N. Thanks to Ceebee for edits, Jon for content edits. I appreciate all your reviews and the ideas you come up with, surely you will see some in here being used. There's a small homage to other manga/anime in this chapter. See if you can find them.

_**Back to School**_

The princess of the Shiohin noble family kneeled by her friend Shiba Kukaku. She realized it was unseemly especially in her elaborate robes, but her concern for her friend superseded demands of her station. She'd never expected her friend to attempt the entrance exam for the Spiritual Arts Academy; the princess couldn't imagine her friend being disciplined enough for it.

Kukaku and her companions including the boy who had wowed them were lying in the makeshift healing station at the side of the tunnel's opening. The princess watched disinterestedly as those who had been healed attempted the Bridge of Despair; their screams annoyed her. She wondered why their pride didn't keep their lips sealed against the pain. They sounded pathetic to her. But of course they thought that when a ruffian from the outskirts of Rukongai could do it then why couldn't they? She scoffed to herself.

Her mind turned to the boy not lying too far from Kukaku. Captain Unohana was treating him herself. The princess frowned in thought. She had wanted to judge the young man's reiatsu but it was dampened by proximity to the bridge. Even when she'd tried to get close to him while he ran on the bridge Captain Unohana's shockingly frightening reiatsu had blanketed her senses. The captain of the healing division had flared her spiritual power when she went to save Kuchiki Byakuya but for some reason didn't bring it back under control till the boy's test was over.

The princess couldn't shake the feeling that Captain Unohana intentionally was spreading her own reiatsu to hide the feel of the young man's spiritual pressure. The princess would have had difficulty looking past the odd behavior even if it was a young and inexperienced captain, but for the oldest and one of the most powerful captains of the Thirteen Armies to 'forget' to control her reiatsu was worrisome if not suspicious.

Then again, the princess thought to herself, walking the Bridge of Despair was even more severe than trials her own special secret forces suffered through at the beginning of their training. It was reasonable for a captain renowned for her compassion and gentleness to be disturbed by it. The princess quickly blanked her face before her scowl betrayed her irritation. She was annoyed at losing her opportunity to figure out the young man.

She cataloged what she'd learned about him. His skills at hand-to-hand combat were deplorable, his flash steps technique was ill developed, but he was still surprisingly agile in the air… And then there was the matter of how he suddenly disappeared from the clutches of her correctional squad to appear by Byakuya to heal him. It seemed to her that no one had noticed since they were all preoccupied by the Kuchiki grandson getting impaled. To have poor flash technique in general and then suddenly have such a high level of it that even _she_ couldn't follow it was impossible. She wanted to know the secret.

With the right training his movements wouldn't be so awkward, she thought. But what had attracted her attention the most was his Kidō skill when fighting her correctional squad. A constant glow of reiatsu or what she suspected was Kidō covered his body. He was able to cast magic at incredible speeds without tiring. The way the glow on his skin fluxed when he cast spells made her suspect that it wasn't just reiatsu flaring but Kidō - it was a technique she had been developing, albeit differently. To see a 'nobody' show up using something so similar to her had her more than intrigued.

"Your friend will be fine, Yoruichi-san," Captain Unohana's voice brought the princess out of her musings. The captain of the healing division was smiling gently down at her, having finished treating her patient.

The princess realized she had been staring at the boy. She quickly averted her eyes and scanned her friend's face. The girl was sound asleep. "Thank you, Captain Unohana. I'm worried for Kukaku, what if being on the bridge has…" she trailed off, unwilling to put into words her fear.

Captain Unohana put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it in soft comfort. "It is lucky Potter-san was there to protect her. He healed her injuries and protected her reiryoku with his own. She is exhausted, nothing more."

"He must be a very powerful healer. Can you tell anything about him after treating him, Captain Unohana?" Princess Shiohin Yoruichi asked, heartened by the older woman's words.

Captain Unohana nodded. "One develops an instinct about people after being a healer for so long, but I think you can judge him better by his actions than anything I can tell you, Yoruichi-san. Little Byakuya is alive thanks to Potter-san and Matsumoto-san, as is your friend. It's safe to say the kindness I felt in his spirit is in his actions as well, wouldn't you agree?" she smiled at the princess.

The princess smiled back but wasn't sure the captain had shared everything with her. She'd created an opening for the captain to say something about the boy's healing skills but she hadn't even expressed a desire for him to join her division, which would only be reasonable. The princess allowed the much senior woman to keep her secrets. The wise never liked saying what they thought, she noted to herself. "Who is Matsumoto?" she asked.

"Ah, that's the girl over there, she's the one that struck down Byakuya-san and also the one who called Potter-san for help when she noticed she'd hit a child," Captain Unohana explained happily.

"I hope you won't call him a child in his hearing, Captain Unohana. Byakuya is very sensitive." The princess smiled conspiratorially at the captain making the other woman laugh.

"It seems the Captain Commander is creating more work for me," Captain Unohana said looking out towards the bridge where people were being picked off once they couldn't go on longer.

The princess made a derisive sound, forgetting to act her place. "It's their pride or stupidity that's making work for you, Captain Unohana. They've passed the test but their egos want more. Power isn't the only requisite to cross that bridge. Resolve is the first and most important quality you need to survive it. As if glory seekers could last more than five seconds on it," Princess Yoruichi said before she realized her voice had risen. Some waiting to attempt the bridge or those who were in the healer's hands after already trying had heard her. She raised her chin and looked about her imperiously. Their eyes turned away from her and they stopped their muttering. She hoped she'd shamed them.

"Well said, Yoruichi-san, well said. I'm happy that you will one day take over the Special Forces officially," Captain Unohana said with a proud smile.

The princess blushed; she knew she'd said too much and too harshly but the captain had smoothly covered her indiscretion. Captain Unohana had the grace the princess found so hard to find in herself even though it was she who was forced into the trappings of nobility.

"You are kind, Captain Unohana. Thank you," the princess said with a short bow. "I hope that young boy, Potter Harry, will make a full recovery. I want to understand his willpower." The princess said in a whisper looking over to where the boy laid.

Captain Unohana patted her shoulder and said, "He _is_ a little cute isn't he?" as if in agreement with the princess.

The princess snapped her eyes back to look at the captain's serene smile. "That's not what I meant!" She couldn't help the color that rose in her cheeks.

"Mhm, I wanted to say, you look very beautiful today, Yoruichi-san. Much better than when you're running around in that Special Forces uniform. Now I must go see to my squad." Captain Unohana patted her shoulder again, and left the princess speechless.

"Meddlesome old women. Is every one of them trying to find me a boyfriend," she grumbled to herself.

She brushed her fingers through Shiba Kukaku's hair and thought dolefully that they wouldn't have time to get up to mischief anymore. She felt a presence next to her and realized the Captain Commander had joined her. She stood up in respect, expecting he was there to speak with her. The Captain Commander seemed to be looking at Potter Harry.

"I want a special containment cell reserved in the detention area for Potter Harry," he said quietly.

The princess was stunned. "Why, Captain Commander?" she asked. The wizened Shinigami rubbed the hand he had caught the boy's sword with and showed her his palm in answer. There was a thin cut on it. The princess arched her brows and asked, "You haven't healed it?"

"I tried and it resisted the healing. I can overwhelm whatever power that is keeping it from healing, of course, but I want to see how long the cut will stay. You know, Shihoin Yoruichi, that those whose swords dominate them are a danger to Soul Society and must be put away," he said.

The princess nodded finding it refreshing to be addressed just by her name and not by any titles or honorifics. "Yes, but every Shinigami struggles to master his or her sword. It is a natural thing to happen in the course of development. If one fails it is usually not difficult to eliminate the threat. Unless…"

"Unless," the Captain Commander took up her thread, "the sword and the Shinigami are especially powerful or have a dangerous ability. Otherwise, I agree, a Shinigami dominated by his sword is trash and no more a threat than a rabid dog."

"Is he that powerful, Captain Commander, that you are worried?" the princess asked. Indeed his spiritual pressure had been remarkable when he burst out of the tunnel, but he was no more special than many others in the Thirteen Divisions.

"He's a little pup with power gained several decades too early, other than that it isn't notable." The Captain Commander cleared his throat dismissively. "It's the sword that's the problem. _He_ didn't give me the cut on my hand; his sword did that on its own. Either he learns to hold it or he goes to the Maggot's Nest. Please relay my request for a special containment cell to your great uncle."

Yoruichi's face fell as the seriousness of what the Captain Commander said. He must have been cut after the boy fell leaving his sword in the Captain Commander's hand. The sword was acting under its own will, not its master's. Such Zanpakutō became abominations, cursed weapons that betrayed master, friend, and foe alike.

"It will be done, Captain Commander. I won't need to disturb my uncle with this matter," she said. She had heard the old Shinigami's veiled message clearly: if she didn't do as he asked, he would simply ask the head of the Shihoin family. She wondered where he had learned their unofficial name 'maggot's nest' for the detention cells, but she put it out of her mind for the moment. She was worried about the conflict in her heart between her duty to the Shinigami and the debt she owed to the mysterious boy for protecting her friend, Shiba Kukaku.

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For a moment when I woke up I thought it was just after I'd gone to sleep in District One with Retsu healing me. But the place was different and Retsu's hair was styled in a new way. My head was still resting in her lap though. I reached up and brushed my fingers against her glossy locks braided in front instead of the back like usual.

She smiled softly. "Do you like it, Harry-kun?"

"I think you're supposed to put it behind you to keep it out of your way…but it's nice," I said. "Is it over?"

"Yes, finally. You're within the city of Seireitei, and you won't be found out here. I'm very proud of you," she said with a beatific smile.

I took a shuddering breath in relief. I was in the Shinigami's sanctum. I was one step closer to learning about the terrible afterlife I was stuck in and how to escape it. After many months the pain in my heart for my friends and the worry for them burst like a fresh wound. The battle at Hogwarts must've been long over but I would get back anyway I could to pick up the pieces. That was all I could hope for.

But there was something that concerned me about my test that could jeopardize my entrance to the Academy. "Retsu, I lost control over my spirit pressure at the end of the exam… Zero div-"

She covered my mouth with her hand. "Shush! Don't speak of that now. You're in Seireitei; it's more likely here than in the outlands that someone knows what you're talking about. Be careful, Harry-kun."

"Ok… so what about my reiatsu?" I asked.

"The bridge is a powerful artifact, it doesn't allow reiatsu to spread very far…and I also did my part in hiding you. Isshin-san said that he was the only one chasing you from his group. For now, you are safe," she explained. "Now, tell me about your Zanpakutō. I'm so happy you learned its name." She beamed at me.

"Err…she's a little disturbing, I don't know what to do with her," I confessed.

"She? It's a woman?" Retsu asked in surprise. "That's not common at all, Harry-kun. There's only one other male I know with a female Zanpakutō… Although it makes sense that sword has a woman's spirit."

"What do you mean?" I asked seeing that smile on her face that she had for only herself. I could never tell what was happening in her mind when she had that look.

"Never mind that, Harry-kun. You've been very sneaky. I never knew you were so in touch with your feminine side to have a female Zanpakutō." She grinned. "I'm so happy to have a new girlfriend in you, Harry-chan."

I groaned. "Why me? Why can't I have a normal sword? Please don't call me Harry-chan, I'm a manly man."

Retsu's face fell. "Isn't it so sad, Harry-chan? An accident of nature; you were meant to be a sweet girl. You must feel trapped in a boy's body." She patted my cheeks.

I glared at her. "Retsu, are you trying to make me die of embarrassment?"

"See? There's that unpredictability of a woman as well. Is that how you react to my sympathy for you, Harry-chan?" She was smiling wide now showing her neat row of teeth.

"You make me helpless, Retsu." I despaired. She let out a peel of laughter which made me smile. I dared a little and from feeling her new braid I moved my fingers and brushed them against her cheek. It was as soft as I always thought it would be. "I missed you, Retsu," I said feeling the ache of everything that had happened in the last four months.

She reached up and took my hand. She put it on my chest and began running her fingers through my hair. I was worried that I'd been too forward but her touch was unbelievable soothing and washed away my concerns. My eyes shut of their own accord.

"Harry-chan?" she called softly, still using that cutesy honorific to annoy me. "Many things will change now that you're in Seireitei so will you promise to stay my friend?"

I opened my eyes to Retsu looking seriously down at me. Most Japanese women I'd met didn't have blue eyes, but Retsu did. They always looked striking on her gentle face and sharply contrasting dark brows. Those eyes showed a weariness and sadness I didn't expect of them.

"Retsu…" I whispered. "Nothing will change that. What's wrong?"

She smiled and the unusually naked emotion in her eyes was replaced with her typical mischief. "Everything is well, Harry-chan, go to sleep. I will stay a while."

I knew she was casting some Kidō to relax me with her warm fingers on my head. "I know what you're doing; stop drugging me so you don't have to talk about what's worrying you."

"As suspicious as a woman too, you're so adorable, Harry-chan," she said softly.

Her spell is too strong, I feel myself drift into oblivion.

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I woke up to Isshin-sensei staring down at me. I looked at him for a few seconds unable to figure out if it was a dream or reality. My head wasn't on Retsu's lap, where it was the last time, and my vision was blurry. He wasn't moving or blinking.

"Shoo, nightmare," I said and shut my eyes. Something pinched my nostrils shut. I jerked back startled and fully awake.

"I could've killed you thirty-four times while you laid there, Potter-kun," Isshin-sensei said. "Which in hindsight, I should've for your rudeness."

"Thirty-four times? That's awfully specific," I grunted, pulling the sheet around me because I was inexplicably naked under it. I sat up against the wall of the bare room, wondering where I'd woken up in. This was yet a different room than the one I was with Retsu last. How many times had I been moved?

"That's how long I've been sitting here waiting for you to notice my reiatsu and wake up, Potter-kun. So I hear you made it to Class One! I'm so proud of my Potter-kun!" he chortled.

I narrowed my eyes, not so much in anger but to bring his unshaved face into focus. "Can you not call me Potter-kun in that tone? It's making me uncomfortable."

"Why? Can't a master be emotional about his pupil being the talk of town?" He sounded genuinely upset.

"Some master," I scoffed. "The old teacher at the entrance exam kept saying I couldn't even hold a sword," I said.

"Who was it?! I'll eviscerate the bastard!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and reaching for his sword.

I made shushing motions. "I don't know who it was. A really old man…he had a scar on his bald head in the shape of a cross. A real bastard."

The mock angry expression melted from Isshin-sensei's face, and a very serious one took its place. I was reminded of the time he had grabbed my hand at the bar and was trying to crush it. It made me anxious. He sat down and looked me full in the eyes. "Tell me everything," he said.

It took me a long time but I explained everything that happened. As time went by I became more and more apprehensive by his unchanging expression. At the end of my story he found his own piece of wall to lean against and lit up a cigarette. It was a strangely reassuring reminder of the life I had had on earth, but it still looked out of place.

"Potter-kun…that man was not a teacher at the Academy. He is the commander of the captains of the thirteen divisions of the Shinigami called the Gotei 13. People in Rukongai usually don't know much about how we're organized so I expect you don't understand what that means. Basically you had the misfortune to run into the oldest and most powerful Shinigami. I'm not surprised he berated you into nearly killing yourself," Isshin-sensei said flicking the ash on the stone floor and staring off.

"…Is that bad?" I asked. Inside I was ecstatic, if the commander of all the captains was going to keep an eye on me as that old man had said then all I had to do was impress him into making me a captain one day. As far as I was concerned I was that much closer to my goal of learning their secrets. No one is going to trust a 'nobody,' but what about the commander's favorite?

"The Captain Commander is a dangerous man, Potter-kun, because of this." He tapped his head to indicate the old man's mind. "He took a personal interest in you, it could be you pissed him off and he wanted to put you in your place himself, it could be that he saw some threat in you that he wanted to weigh himself."

I admit my stomach dropped at that. "Maybe he was impressed, maybe he saw potential. I stood up when he thought I was just going to die," I said angrily. I was mad at Isshin-san for taking my moment of triumph away. I wanted to believe that things were going right for me, that maybe sooner than later I could escape my afterlife.

Isshin-sensei laughed ruefully and put out his cigarette in the floor. "Potter-kun…if you had lived more than two thousand years, brought to heel an entire world, established the order that manages the balance of souls in two worlds, what would it take to impress you?" The remains of the smoke billowed around his face shimmering mysteriously in the moonlight pouring through the window.

I leaned my head against the wall, feeling cold. I thought of all the things I'd done right, that shouldn't have made me seem like a threat, "I managed my reiatsu except at the end when he was taunting me and telling me to die. I didn't release my Zanpakutō. I misaimed my Kidō spells on purpose so I didn't hit anyone directly."

Isshin-sensei raised his finger to interrupt me. "You know misfiring Kidō spells at that high a level is a little strange."

I shook my head in anger and slammed my fist against the stone wall; I didn't even feel the pain. "I fucking healed a kid who tried to kill my friend while those bastard Shinigami were cutting into me with their swords. I made sure no one died because of us." I swallowed the scream of rage throbbing in my throat. Instead I whispered, "What more could I've done, what else is there to show I'm not a threat, Isshin-sensei?"

He sighed and cracked his neck loudly in the quiet night. "Your reiatsu probably isn't the problem. The Captain Commander wouldn't even have noticed it, trust me, I've seen him battle. But maybe he saw something that I…" he trailed off.

I met his shadowed eyes staring at me. I couldn't make out the expression in them, but there was tension in the air. I wished I'd had a chance to talk to Retsu about him and find out who he really was. "Speak your mind, Isshin," I said, foregoing the honorific. I guess it had the desired effect; his fingers tapped the hilt of his sword. I wondered how strong Retsu's faith was in him.

"You don't think old man Yama had a reason to suspect you because you didn't release your Zanpakutō," said Isshin-sensei making the hair on my body rise in fear. I didn't realize I'd betrayed myself. He continued, "Will you tell me, Harry, did you release your Zanpakutō in District 80?"

I bet he saw my eyes widening. I shot my hand to the sword lying by the threadbare bed. Next thing I knew a light shone in my eyes and an unmovable force had gripped my arm. Moonlight reflected off Isshin-sensei's naked blade where it rested on the bridge of my nose. He kept my sword arm pinned.

My sudden fear disappeared. I was caught and at his mercy, my only option was to disapparate away, but that meant running from everything I'd gained. Some choices are not really a choice. "It was the first time I released her," I said. "I was dying. She told me her name, so I called it…and I've _never_ released her since."

Isshin-sensei moved his blade away and sat down cross-legged again. There was little space between us and I was glad for it; whatever needed to be said would be said in whispers. He sheathed his sword and rested his hands on his knees. "Are you the one they call the Shade of Zaraki?"

"It's not a name I gave myself. The last man I fought there said it was because they couldn't see me when I fought. No one uses Hohō there…" I explained.

"Is it true you killed those men in revenge for the women they executed for sheltering you?" he asked in a flat tone. I wondered how he knew that, I didn't think I'd left any witnesses alive.

"Yes and because I was sick of Rukongai, sick of being in this hell where no one cares for anyone else, where people are hungry, dying, and lost and no one is there to help. Where those same women who died because of me were going to kill one of the only two people who've protected me. I wanted them to die for not caring, I wanted them to suffer for the wretchedness they lived in and the wretchedness they spread every time they fucking breathed." I raised my head and stared in his blank face. "And I bled them long before I called the name of my Zanpakutō..."

I stared at him, challenging him with my eyes to say something, to kill me, to scream, but the bastard reached inside his robes and pulled out another cigarette. He offered me one. I didn't take it but looked at him befuddled. He blew the smoke out of his nostrils and leaned on his knees as if in deep thought.

"I told Unohana Retsu what I'd found…she still believes in you. She said it was her fault that you had to do what you did. You know, Potter-kun, I've never been to Hell; the only place close to it is District 80. Most men there are demons but you are your own special kind of psycho." A sardonic smile touched his lips as if what he'd said was funny.

"She knows…" I said in a shocked whisper. Cold sweat broke out on my body and I felt dizzy. I was suddenly nauseous, furious, and devastated at the same time. I couldn't bear to think of the look of betrayal in those gentle eyes. "Why did you tell her?" I shouted almost leaping out of the bed and the sheets that were keeping me decent.

"It was only right to tell the woman who put you in my care that I was going to kill you. But she took me to your pretty little friend, Matsumoto-chan. You need to thank her for your life. She's wise beyond her years," he said and stood up. I wondered what Rangiku could've told him. I didn't think she would betray my secrets.

"You agreed to teach me the sword before you talked to Rangiku. You knew I was the one who murdered those people. Why didn't you say anything then?" I asked.

He gave me a long look. "Because I'd rather not break Unohana Retsu's heart. You're not the only one she's saved, Potter-kun. And I lived in this world in the times before this beautiful city existed for the Shinigami, I know a thing about the kind of monster you are, I've been one myself. Just make sure that's in your past, killing the filth in Zaraki is one thing, but Seireitei is a different place. If you change like I did, there won't ever be a need to have this talk again." He walked the door, apparently having said what he had to say.

"What happens now?" I asked tiredly.

"I'll teach you to fight with your Zanpakutō. By the way, I don't think what you did is Unohana's fault. Every man is responsible for the blood he spills. I'll make sure you carry that burden all on your own."

And with that he left.

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The next time I had a visitor I was awake. The conversation with Isshin-sensei had left me disturbed and numb. I kept thinking why Retsu never said anything to me about Zaraki District. She'd spoken to me after Isshin-sensei had told her everything, she hadn't once given away she knew. Was she that much of a saint?

Rangiku came into the room dressed in white and red robes of a Japanese style. She cheerfully greeted me and threw a bundle on me. I was frozen under the sheets due to my nudity. My best guess was that my clothes were so ruined that the healers didn't deign to give them back.

"Wake up. I picked up your uniform. Look, doesn't mine look nice? It's so clean and freshly pressed, and I got to bathe, and soon we'll have food. I'm so hungry I could die. Come on get ready already!" she said in a hurry skipping around the room. She turned her back to me to give me some privacy. She could've left the room but we were past that point.

I got up slowly still reeling from her morning assault. Most of my body was bandaged but I left them on even though I felt healed. Seemed I had the same type of uniform as Rangiku except it was blue and white. Really? Blue for boys and red for girls, I guess some things stay the same from life to afterlife. I started figuring out what went where; I'd never worn Japanese clothing before.

"So," I said. "Miss Wadiwashi my Wakizashi," I taunted.

"Wasn't that great?" she said happily still looking away from me. "It's not fair you have all the dramatic sounding Kidō spells. I had to make an impression on the judges too."

"Un huh. I think pretty much anyone there would know that wasn't a spell and you were fucking around calling out nonsense when projecting your reiatsu," I said feeling irritated for some reason.

"You're in a foul mood, why the hell are you swearing at me?" she snapped. "It was just a little fun."

"It was stupid and it distracted me and you nearly killed a kid," I snapped back, getting frustrated with the clothes.

She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "You get grumpy when you're hungry. It was fun, Harry-kun, it rhymed. You're just jealous you don't have a rhyming spell."

"It's not a real spell," I mumbled with the undershirt in my teeth as I tried to pull the billowy pants up to slip it inside. Everything was so loose that it kept falling.

"Harry," she said softly. "Can't you be a little happy? We finally made it. No more hiding from gangs, going hungry for days, we can bathe anytime we want, have clean clothes. Isn't this what we always wanted? We escaped Rukongai."

I lost my irrational anger at her. "Yeah…I'm sorry, Rangiku. I'm just…" how could I explain what was going through my head? Like I'd known, getting accepted at the Academy was the end of her quest to get away from her life; mine would only enter another stage of the same struggle.

She looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes when I hurriedly snapped the robes close. "I'm too hungry to keep waiting for you. Hold up your trousers," she said and came over to me. She kneeled to tighten the wide trousers with four straps that I hadn't quite figured out the function of. She slipped my undershirt in and showed me how to tie the robe like shirt. I just stood there while she dressed me, oscillating between embarrassment and relief.

"Thanks," I said when she was done.

She looked up at me with her expressive gray eyes to give me a half smile. "Promised to watch your back, didn't I?"

"You always do," I said with a smile. She put her arm in mine and we left the room to my first sight of the Shinigami Academy. The gloom of Isshin-sensei's words was left behind. That was probably the first time I realized how much I'd come to rely on Rangiku for my sanity.

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I whistled in appreciation at the imposing Spiritual Arts Academy. An arched gate led into a vast courtyard closed in on three sides by wings of a three story building. The wing directly across from the entrance to the Academy had levels built upon the three stories with great sloping roofs at each level. The design of the central wing was such that it was difficult to see exactly how many floors it housed but I guessed at eight at least. The walls were pure white and the wooden roofs looked like gleaming yellow icing on cake. Rectangular segmented windows marched along the outside walls. What the Academy lost to Hogwarts in intricate design it made up for in sheer magnificence of size.

It was another world. People were milling about; some resting against vibrant trees, others sprawled on the lush grass. There were fragrances of many flowers in the air and a cool breeze blew through the courtyard. Rangiku breathed deeply with a serene smile on her face. She looked content. It made me happy that in all the misery I'd gone through I'd brought relief to someone.

In the sunlight I noted that her cheekbones were just a little too sharp, and that there were bags under her eyes. When she smiled it stretched her skin so it looked papery thin. I'd always thought she was fair but now she just looked pale. I wondered if she'd always looked this way or if four months of living with me had ruined her health. Maybe it was just being surrounded by so many well-fed and healthy people that it pronounced the wear and tear of the outlaw districts of Rukongai on her.

I looked to those people and wondered if they'd ever understand the pains that my friend had gone through to be amongst them. Could they even imagine fighting for their lives on weeks of empty stomachs, of bearing injury upon injury to stay standing? No, they couldn't. Even if we were at her promised land, it didn't really wash the past away.

"Class 3, assemble here, I'll call out your names. Ikari, Ayanami, Soryu, Nagisa, Suzuhara…" a man spoke reading off of a thick register. People of different ages dressed in the same uniforms as Rangiku and I started forming a line in front of him.

It went on like that for a while with him progressing to class two and then one. Rangiku skipped off when her name was called for Class One. I saw Kukaku in that line too; she waved at me with that wide grin of hers that had put me off when I'd seen her for the first time. It had only been the day before I'd met her but it felt like it was a different age. I waved back at her with a smile; I was surprised that I was actually happy to see her.

My good mood didn't last too long. I frowned looking around to see that all the classes had filled and my name hadn't been called. Isshin-sensei had said I was part of Class One; he'd been proud. Rangiku was motioning me to join her. She was holding a place in the line for me. I didn't think sneaking into a class was going to be much help so I stayed put a little off to the side from the neatly assembled new students.

The lower numbered classes had the greatest numbers of students. Rangiku's class had less than ten. All told maybe there were a hundred students. It was a fraction compared to the throng of people who'd shown up for the exam. A hush fell over the crowd when a Shinigami from the Academy stepped forward.

He was a tall and large man with rimless glasses that went past his bald head. He wore a gold necklace with a fat pendent. He was flanked by the Shinigami with the register and two others who I guessed to be instructors by their black robes.

The bald one started speaking, "I am Gengoro Onabara, welcome to the Spiritual Arts Academy. I congratulate you on acceptance to our two thousand year old institute. You are now part of a long and glorious tradition; I expect each and every one of you to honor this place and your teachers. It takes six years to pass the grueling training that will prepare you to join the 13 Divisions, the Kidō corps, and the Special Forces. You are divided into four classes according to the skill and talent you showed at the exam. Should you excel beyond our expectations I will move you from the class you are in to the class above you, but if you should fall below our expectations I will recommend your expulsion from the Academy. Is that understood?" he demanded in a stentorian voice.

He got a general murmur of yes's and short bows. The look on his face was of someone unimpressed. I wondered if he could see me clearly enough hanging out by myself.

"To be a Shinigami is to maintain the balance of souls in the worlds. You will train to bury souls so they arrive in the afterlife safely and you will learn to fight Hollows, an abomination that threatens to destroy that balance. I will tell you now at least a third of you will die on missions within the first ten years of your service. This is an army, you are warriors, and your enemy is a monster that changes its face every second. Slack off in our classes and you might as well write your own death sentence. Do you understand? And this time I better hear all of you say something!" He glared at us all from his considerable height.

Inside I was scoffing at the thought of making sure souls made it to the afterlife. That didn't sound like we were doing anyone any favors. Sure if you landed right in the beautiful courtyard of the Academy it would be nice but out in the parts of Rukongai I came from it was cruel. "Sensei!" I raised my hand. "My name wasn't called out."

Everyone rubber necked to take a look at me. I ignored their stares; hell, I'd grown up as the center of attention at Hogwarts. What did it matter to me that they were whispering about the unmannered thug?

"I'm getting to you," the bald headed Shinigami said. He turned to the rest, "This is the first time we have different classes in the same year. Class One is the best of you, they will be in the accelerated program since they are the most gifted. It's possible for them to finish their training before the required six years. They are expected to be the backbone of the divisions they will one day join, and so they will have the most demanding training that anyone has seen in the Academy's history."

He strode over to the line of Class One students and walked up and down their ranks. It didn't take him long, they weren't many. "Should you of Class One survive your training, your entrance exam to the formal divisions will be waived and you will be granted an officer position. Class Two and Three, I want you to thank the gods you were spared the fate of Class One." He grinned menacingly which was at odds from his professional demeanor so far.

A lot of people were giving Class One jealous looks but quite a few seemed to be relieved they weren't part of the handful. Kukaku raised her hand. A look of displeasure crossed the bald Shinigami's face but he still nodded to her to have her say.

"Can I switch to Class Two, I'm only doing this because my brother is making me," she said sweetly. The students broke out in laughter as she grinned at them. The bald Shinigami teacher, Onabara, quietly looked at us sweeping his gaze from one corner to the other. The laughter died pretty quickly under the weight of his silent stare which he finally brought to rest on Kukaku. The mood was tense until Kukaku broke it, "I think I'll stay, big bro might be upset I gave up on being the best." The usual insolent tone was absent from her voice.

Onabara looked away from her to me, obviously dismissing her after having cowed her. "Class One is meant to be the first amongst all, but this year we will have a Class Zero which is above even the first. By recommendation of the founder of the Spiritual Arts Academy, Captain Commander Genryusai Yamamoto, Potter Harry is the single student in Class Zero. Come and stand besides Class One, Potter Harry." He waved me over.

In deathly silence I walked to my place feeling the weight of stares on the back of my neck. Onabara unfurled a scroll in front of my face. It looked to be an official form. "This is a blank personal will. Please fill this out and turn it in to me by end of day. Under normal circumstances everyone would make one in their sixth year before the first time they face Hollows, but the Captain Commander was kind enough to extend you the courtesy now. Please take this seriously, Potter-san."

I took the scroll from him as if it was something much heavier than paper. I didn't look at it and simply slipped it inside my robes where it scratched against my skin, unwilling to be forgotten. I berated myself for the silly feeling. It wasn't as if I hadn't died once already or faced mortal wounds. But to have the expectation of people of me to simply die so formalized in a form was really fucked up.

"Onabara-sensei," Rangiku's voice piped up. "Can I join Harry? He can't really do anything without me. Just this morning I had to-"

"Rangiku," I hissed at her.

"No," Onabara interrupted both of us. "Matsumoto-san, I'm impressed with your abilities and your loyalty. I recommended you for Class One myself. Be satisfied, and more importantly, be silent."

Rangiku ducked her head but not in shame. She was furious. Color rose to her face so that she was red from neck to ear tips and she was mashing her teeth. Her fist was clenched with white knuckles.

"I'll be fine," I whispered to her, knowing we were the center of attention.

She snapped her head to me. I was taken aback by the shine in her eyes. She looked ready to murder. "Don't-fill-it," she said and looked away from me after nodding to the will peeking out from my robes.

"Alright, you're dismissed. Head to the mess hall. Follow Sousuke-sensei," Onabara indicated the Shinigami with the large register.

The students broke out in whispers as they started off to get food. I stayed rooted to where I was, wondering how right Isshin-sensei had been. Maybe it really was my misfortune that the Captain Commander had taken note of me. Was Onabara mad? Why did he think giving me a personal will to fill out was an act of kindness from that insane old Shinigami? I shook my head to myself thinking it wasn't because the old man was being nice, it was simply because he was a bastard. He liked to put me down, to make me afraid, this was just another trick.

But in my heart of hearts I wasn't really sure it was just an old man getting his jollies from terrifying a youngster. I didn't say anything when Rangiku and Kukaku came to stand by me. By some unsaid agreement they were keeping silent too, letting me brood in peace.

"Pardon me!" someone yelled behind me.

I turned to find a male student bowing deeply at the waist. I recognized him as someone who had been staring hard at me in Class Three's line. A little behind him two other men were bowing at the waist too.

"_Che_," Kukaku made a displeased sound. "They're already lining up to be your pals. I'm too hungry for this. Congratulations _big_ _brother_, I'll see you in the mess hall." She sauntered off laughing to herself. Rangiku was hiding her smile; I figured Kukaku was making fun of me because I said I was older than her and Rangiku.

"What do you guys want?" Rangiku said coming to stand next to me.

"Forgive our interruption, miss, I'm Tokiwa... from District 80," he said while still in his deep bow. My blood rushed and I placed my hand on my sword just as Rangiku did. "The Shade of Zaraki spared me once, I wish to serve Shade-sama," he said using an honorific for someone far above one's station.

My throat was suddenly dry. District 80 was supposed to be behind me, why the _fuck_ was someone using that stupid name for me in the middle of Seireitei?!

"And who are the men behind you, Tokiwa-san?" Rangiku asked in a neutral tone.

"They are my men, miss. They aren't from District 80 but we've been together for a hundred years. They are in Shade-sama's service as am I, miss." Then he added quickly, "And yours too of course. Everyone knows of the Shade of Zaraki's red shadow." He bowed even deeper.

Rangiku gave me a blank look and mouthed 'Red shadow?' I shrugged, at some other time I would've been amused by their terrible titles, but I was terrified of being found out. Rangiku indicated her sword as if to say 'Shall we kill them?' but then shook her head taking back her suggestion. There was no way we could just kill them inside the home of the Shinigami. Not that I would just murder someone to hide my secrets, I'd rather obliviate them. I just needed to learn how to cast that complicated spell.

"First, never call me Shade of Zaraki again or call her the 'red shadow.' Don't ever mention anything about District 80. My name is Potter Harry and she is Matsumoto Rangiku," I said. "And stand up before people notice."

"Forgive me, Potter-sama," Tokiwa said standing to his full height. He was a man at least twice my age with a long chin beard and a thin deeply tanned face.

_Ah, finally, some minions. They will prove useful, my little flower. Oh, and before you pretend to ignore my voice, I shall be seeing you tonight. It is time you know what I learned after drinking that old Captain Commander's blood._

"Oh…" I said out loud feeling as if the earth had slipped from under my feet. A man can only take so much bad news in a day. I had a will to write, followers who knew my dark secret, and my bloody sword had pissed off the most powerful Shinigami there was by drinking his blood.

"Shall we escort you to the eating hall, Potter-sama, Matsumoto-sama?" Tokiwa asked as his two men speedily fell around us.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let Rangiku guide me.

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A.N. So did you figure out my homage to Evangelion and Full Metal Panic? :P


	6. Chapter 6

A.N. This chapter is dedicated to Lutris who drew a gorgeous Unohana Retsu for me and Harry Potter that banished Daniel Radcliffe's image from my mind.

As always much thanks to Ceebee for edits and Jon for content proofing.

_**-Bzzz-**_

They put me in a small dusty room after breakfast. I sat with my legs tucked under me in the Japanese style. Empty vases adorned low tables set in neat rows around the rooms. Some vases still held remains of flowers, leaves, and branches. There was an odd beauty in the decay; someone had taken a long time to arrange the flora, now long dead.

Tension built up in my thighs sitting in the formal style expected of us. It was one of the first lessons I learned about etiquette at the Spiritual Arts Academy. I appreciated the hearty breakfast, but I didn't enjoy eating it while my legs felt like they were burning. I sighed, realizing I was trying to distract myself; first contemplating dead flowers, then the 'seiza' way of sitting.

I'd been given ink and a brush to write my will. Not surprisingly I wasn't rushing to the task. I pulled out the scroll and unfurled it on the ground in front of me. Inspiration didn't come like I hoped. So I sighed again and instead traced my gaze over the dried stems of some plant jutting out forlornly from its pot.

I was suddenly aware of someone else beside me in the room. With a jerk I snapped my head left where I'd heard breathing. There was a young girl dressed in a Victorian era gown in the color of sunflowers. She was sitting to my side facing me with her head slightly bowed. Waves of snow white hair cascaded down to the floor matching her brows and the fairness of her skin. She raised her eyes looking both enchanting and alien with her long absolute white lashes.

I didn't know what she was but I knew with the certainty of someone schooled in Hogwarts for six years that someone magical was visiting me. And she was magical unlike the Shinigami; she was the same kind of 'strange' as me.

"Master, I am Annette. Please forgive me for disturbing you," she said in barely a whisper. Her voice was so sweet and small that the need to protect her blossomed in my heart. She couldn't have been older than ten.

A moment later I realized she hadn't spoken to me in Japanese. I didn't even know I would be able to tell the difference after mysteriously learning to speak the language of the afterlife. I was so stunned I didn't say more than repeat her name, "Annette?"

She met my gaze for the first time and I was taken aback by how her faint irises seemed to dissolve in the whites of her eyes. "You saw me in your soul, Master. Do you remember? My lady Izanami said you thought me 'sweet,'" she said with a slight blush. I finally noticed the tiny tips of fangs when she spoke. Waves of nervousness and worry buffeted me. Her emotions were tangible and I felt them like they were mine. It was very confusing.

"But you're a statue." I frowned at her with confusion. But I understood why I felt that we were magical in a more similar way than I was to the Shinigami. She was a vampire and she was part of my world. I wanted to hug her for joy.

She smiled and even her small fangs couldn't spoil the childish happiness on her face. "You are the Master of Death, you gave me life. Please, my lady Izanami awaits us," she said and reached forward to put her cool fingertips on my hand.

In another breath I was in the immense hall with the floor covered in luminescent water and where walls disappeared into Space. Annette stood ahead of me with her rippling locks touching the surface of the water. "Please, follow me," she said with her hands clasped in front of her. Her heavy gown flowed behind her gliding over the green lit water.

We walked past the obsidian statues of creatures and beings I knew to be the many faces of Death, but this time I looked at them warily. I remembered thinking Annette was a cute looking girl but had never expected her to come alive. What if the Grim Reaper or the vicious wolf started moving as fluidly as the child vampiress in front of me? 'Sweet' wasn't a word I'd use for either of them.

Annette climbed the steps and curtsied before Izanami's throne before walking right through the immense mosaic of the white oak. I goggled at her as she became part of the painting. She sat with her back to the trunk and waved at me. She looked happy and indistinguishable from the marble whiteness of the tree. Once again her emotions flowed into me, I felt her pleasure and contentment.

"She's a vision isn't she?" Izanami whispered.

I didn't turn to look at her. Her voluminous gown was visible from the corner of my eye but I didn't want to see her face. No, I didn't want to see her wearing my mother's face. "She's not as frightening as the books make out vampires to be," I said, still watching Annette. She was feeling at peace and even in Izanami's presence it put me at ease. White leaves were shedding from the giant tree to fall like snowflakes on Annette's sunflower colored gown. The last time I'd looked at the mosaic it was nothing like a magical painting. But now the rough stone on which it was painted seemed to be a doorway to a different world.

"I judged correctly. She's the best for what you need. Do you still fear yourself and me if we can raise this child from oblivion to breathe and smile again?" Izanami said. I didn't really hear the question, I only wondered if her voice sounded like my mother's as well.

It was too much. I turned and walked down the steps thinking to get away from her. She laughed ruefully behind me. It was a shockingly sad sound and it made me freeze, but I still couldn't get myself to look at her.

"My husband's love died for me because my body had become ravaged in the underworld. And, you, my supposed master can't look upon me because I remind you of the beauty of your mother. I wonder what fate brought you and I together. To rise from dust and be remembered again only to be spurned yet again…" She scoffed. "A goddess can fall very far it seems."

I was bewildered by the emotions I felt inside me. Was I feeling Izanami's heartache like I felt Annette's happiness? I put it out of my mind to answer her.

"Izanami, I'm sorry, but even I have my limits, though everyone thinks otherwise. I can't be your husband, and if that is what you want from me then…we have nothing," I said. I felt cruel and evil, but I'd read much on Zanpakutō spirits since my first meeting with her and I wasn't going to allow her to rule me.

She hummed as if something amusing occurred to her. "It repulses me to admit but you and I are really reflections of each other."

"We're not!" I said with some heat.

"I hate you, you hate me. I love you, you love me. Look at me, I have veiled myself for you," she said. I wished I could feel something from her when she said that so I could make sense of it, but I could sense nothing.

I looked over my shoulder up at her. She was standing at the top of the vast marble steps. Her head and face was hidden under a yellow shawl with a green trim. Only her chin and lips were visible. She wore the same shade of yellow as Annette's gown, except her robes were of an impossibly elaborate Japanese style. I counted five different layers made of silk and embroidered with silver thread.

"I don't love you and you don't love me…and I don't really hate you either," I said, staying in the middle of the steps.

"You forget, I am wrapped in the love your mother has for you. I am trapped in this alien devotion to you. And you, you love me because my every breath, every lilt of tone, the quirk of my lips, and even the smell of my skin is your mother's. Isn't that so, o' Master of Death?" she asked.

This time there was pain, anger, and maybe even affection in her, but all that was blanketed by the storm brewing inside me at her words. It was a bitch having someone sitting inside your soul, able to understand you that well. I felt like she'd slapped me and embarrassed me. I could feel my face heating up but I had no words for her.

I suppose she saw she had my attention and so went on baring my soul, "You fear me not for my blood lust, you fear me because you're afraid you're too weak to remember that inside I am Izanami, Goddess of Death." She walked slowly down the steps to reach me. The gold in the ringlets of hair escaping her veil jingled with her descent.

"You're right, I do hate you," I said tonelessly. "Anything else you want to declare? Want to tell me more what I am and what I feel?"

"Do you remember the story of your nemesis's mother?" she said.

I frowned not expecting the subject change. "Merope Gaunt? Yes. But what does she-"

"She trapped the father of her child with a love potion. Reprehensible, was it not?" her words rang in my head and my blood chilled at the accusation.

"My mother didn't mean-"

"What does it matter what she meant, I am still shackled," she interrupted me again and raised her hands joined at the wrists as if some invisible rope tied them together.

I couldn't look at her. I turned my face from her and glared at the steps. "Is this another trick? You're playing the victim now? What happened to the proud 'Goddess of Death?'"

"What pride do I have left if I cannot even show my face? If I have been brought back only to be made a tool to a boy who is disgusted at the sight of me?" She tossed her head in anger. "What I want from you is simple. Kill me or forget me. Do not call on my power and shatter the blade. Return me to forgetfulness. I cannot abide by the insult upon insult you make me suffer. If there is a shred of decency in you, end me," she said in a whisper and whirled away.

Her many layered gown kicked up the water. I felt the spray on my face and found it warm against my suddenly cold skin. I couldn't handle the maelstrom in her soul. It was as if I had two hearts, one that was Izanami's heartbreak and the other mine. The spirit of my sword, the being supposed to help me through my fights, was suicidal. Did I really treat her that bad?

It didn't take me too long to answer the question. I'd been repulsed by her, afraid of her. I ignored her and often wished something else was my Zanpakutō. I resented her for looking the way she did. I cringed every time I remembered her hugging me and how wonderful it had felt.

I was walking up the steps long before my mind was made up. Izanami was sitting on her throne with the blade of my sword naked upon her knees. Her head was bowed and her hands rested in her lap. I stood in front of her for what felt like eternity.

I couldn't believe my stupidity but reached forward to raise the veil off her face. She looked up at me with familiar eyes and a face devoid of expression. "I don't want this," I said. "I don't want to kill you. I'm sorry for making you feel like you had to hide yourself. It's just… it's difficult."

She nodded and didn't taunt me. So far it was an improvement. "If you take care of my honor and pride, o' Master of Death, I will take care of your heart. I promise to lend you my power if you promise to lend me yours."

I nodded. "Just don't call me your son and then try to marry me, okay?" I smiled.

Her eyes glinted and she smiled softly. "It's a promise. Will you give me your word as well?"

"I'll honor you and lend you my power. I'm sorry I treated you badly," I said.

Izanami smiled and this time it was that wicked smile of hers. "Annette, sweet child. You were right, this was a much better way to deal with my little flower." She stood up with liquid grace. "Ah, but it's tiring to play the damsel in distress."

I drew back from her feeling the burst of triumph in her. "What the hell?"

Annette was suddenly next to us. She curtseyed and spoke in Japanese, "Thank you, my lady." Then she looked to me with contrite eyes. "Forgive me, master," she said in English. "The tree was dying and you hadn't come to an understanding with lady Izanami. I will accept any punishment." She kneeled in the flowing water.

"You know, she was called the queen of the night in her time," Izanami said, snaking her arm through mine. "I was right to awaken her. With her relationship to love and blood, her advice was invaluable."

"You tricked me," I said quietly, surprised to find how little anger I felt. I smiled to myself and took pleasure in Izanami's confused look at my reaction. Maybe she didn't realize I could feel what she felt. But I had promised to take care of her pride. To tell her now that I knew her trick was no ruse would make her lose face.

"You were distant, my little flower. My voice did not reach you. You need me in the world you've entered. I merely called someone close to your time and culture who could explain to me your mind," Izanami said pressing me to her. My head rested in the hollow of her neck and I was assaulted by that familiar fragrance again that I feared would be my undoing.

I pulled away against my will, thinking that if I didn't I would stay in her arms forever. "Don't forget you made your promises too."

Izanami inclined her head and invited me to sit on her throne. It was large enough for two, as she sat against the armrest and put her feet on my lap. I shot her a look expecting her half smile but she wasn't even looking at me. She'd motioned Annette over who sat on the ground at next to my legs. Izanami lazily trailed her fingers through Annette's luxurious hair.

"You are wondering if Annette is your sword spirit as well," Izanami said. I nodded, inviting her to go on. "All these are aspects or instruments of death, you remember?" she nodded to the sea of black statues below us.

"Yes, and Annette was one of them," I said.

Izanami nodded with a pleased smile. "They serve me and they serve you. To be true to your title, o' Master of Death, you will have to understand each face of death. Your power is great enough right now that I can borrow it to wake Annette. You should get to know her, you will find…surprising rewards." This time she graced me with her wicked half smile.

Annette looked up to me with her nearly colorless eyes and once again I could feel her emotions. She wanted something desperately. "Thank you, master, I'm happy to live again. I'm not your Zanpakutō but I wish to be of service. May I stay with your tree?"

I smiled at her, she was so earnest and lovely. "You can stay. I'm glad Izanami woke you up. But please call me Harry not 'master.'

She bowed. "Yes, master. Thank you."

I frowned and Izanami laughed warmly. It was surprisingly attractive. She shook her head at Annette with an indulgent smile and said to me, "She's a vampiress, my little flower. Her power is in death and blood, she understands her place in relation to you too well. Even a queen like her has a master." Izanami locked eyes with me and pointed a polished nail at me. "You."

I grimaced but accepted it for the moment. I planned on talking to Annette away from Izanami. "So can we wake up all these statues? I don't think they will all be as nice as Annette." The little white haired girl flashed me a grin. Somehow the fangs looked natural on her happy face.

A serious look appeared on Izanami. "If you can master them. Annette is your first test. I spoke to you of the old Shinigami who I cut. He has immense power, my pet. You are far from realizing your strength. Without that he will destroy you and my dreams with you. He intends to watch you and if you don't master me he will put you away for eternity." She shifted her legs on me making me very aware of where her feet were on my lap. It distracted me for a moment from my worry and I scowled when I noticed the glitter of mischief in her eyes. She was playing with me.

"You can learn about a Shinigami from drinking his blood?" I asked.

"Mhm, incidentally your darling Unohana Retsu is of no little power herself, and you will be happy to know she is not disappointed in you. There, there, that should lift your spirits," she mocked me.

"You attacked her?" I asked in a bare whisper, furious beyond measure.

Izanami arched a brow. "I healed her as well. She was fondling me, so I returned the favor."

"Fondling?" I demanded losing my anger to confusion.

Annette looked up and offered, "She was caressing my lady, trying to learn her secrets. My lady satisfied her curiosity. Do you not want Unohana Retsu to know you, master?"

"Hush, Annette," I said frowning at Izanami who was grinning. "When did you do this and why?"

Izanami sighed dramatically. I watched her, fascinated by every new expression, wondering, always wondering, if my mother would make those kinds of faces. "It was the night you slept on her lap, and why I did it is just as Annette said." She gave me open honest eyes but her pleased smile gave her away.

"You just called Annette to double team me," I accused.

"I wouldn't do that to you, my sweet flower." She stared at me from half lidded eyes and her voice dropped an octave, "If I wanted to…double team…you, I would pick someone older than Annette. I know your tastes." She laughed throatily when I jumped to my feet throwing her legs off me.

"Damn it! Izanami! Stop saying things like that," I shouted. "Annette, take me out of here," I said striding away taking two steps down at a time. I didn't care how undignified I looked.

Annette appeared ahead of me as if she'd apparated there. She held out her hand for me. As soon as I clasped it I was back in the room in the Academy.

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I kept my eyes shut and breathed slowly in and out of my nose to calm myself down. If I was less worked up I would've sensed someone had entered the room while I was visiting Izanami.

"Bzzz- What a weirdo. Bzzz- I can't sense his reiatsu –bzzz – how is he making things float? But he's young and wears glasses –bzzz – fits your fetish," something said in a very tiny voice.

I opened my eyes slowly and saw a ghostly dragonfly hopping in the air around me. I felt a wave of nostalgia as I remembered playing with dragonflies on hot summer nights in the park. I reached for it with an outstretched finger and like any normal dragonfly it landed on the tip.

"Hello, what's your name?" I asked the dragonfly before I noticed the woman sitting off to the side. She had the wide eyed look of surprise. When she saw I noticed her she schooled her features to look aloof. At the same time I saw the vases levitating off their low tables and realized I'd performed accidental magic when I'd been tense. As soon as I saw them they floated back to surface and set themselves down.

"I'm Haguro Tonbo, the Zanpakutō – bzzz – of the pervert sitting there," the dragonfly said. It felt lighter than air on my finger. I was mesmerized by its four translucent wings and how their buzzing affected the way it talked.

"Oi, don't call me a pervert. You're the one putting your feelers all over him," the woman said in a bored voice. She looked very serious and businesslike with her rectangular red glasses, thin lips, and slightly frowning eyes. She had long bangs that framed her face and two tight braids that tied off her hair in the back. Her black Shinigami robes were strange; it looked like she was wearing a skirt instead of the proper full length billowy pants.

"It's nice to meet you, Haguro Tonbo," I said as it took off from my finger and went to buzz around the young woman.

It wings flapped very fast suddenly as if it was excited. "No one's ever seen me before – bzzz – the jig is up. If he can see me – bzzz – I can't find the weakness in his reiatsu for you, Lisa," it said and dived, disappearing in the hilt of her sword.

"Che," the young woman scoffed to herself. "You didn't have to tell him your ability." She flicked the hand guard of her sword in annoyance, but the dragonfly didn't make any more sounds.

"Hello, Lisa-san," I said, feeling a heaviness in the air. It's hard to predict how people's reiatsu will feel. But there is always some physical sensation that shouldn't be there. Lisa's reiatsu felt like being out in a terribly humid day.

She inclined her head barely. "Hello," she said and locked her disinterested eyes with me. It was a little uncomfortable but a staring contest was nothing new to me. I put her age at later twenties and her power at something to be wary of. She cocked her head to the side so her bangs fell into one eye. "My Zanpakutō is chatty," she said.

"But you're not," I said with a serious look of my own.

"No," she agreed. "Are you?" Her question sounded less casual than it should have. The pressure of her reiatsu dropped off, I guess she wasn't trying to intimidate me like she was before.

I cocked my head so I mirrored her; for some reason I couldn't resist mocking her. She was so expressionless it was funny. "I've never given up a secret," I said and was impressed she didn't change her pose. She wasn't going to let me embarrass her.

"Good. Then you won't give away Haguro Tonbo's ability and I won't tell anyone you can hear and see Zanpakutō spirits." She drew her blade suddenly. I was impressed she could do it so fluidly while sitting in that knee ruining Seiza position. She sliced her hand open.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" I yelled.

She offered me her blooded hand to shake. "A blood oath. Do you want me to cut you? I don't mind if you're skittish."

"Are you insane?" I said pulling back from her hand that was dripping on my will.

_Don't be foolish, o' Master of Death. You've given yourself away. Use me to cut your hand and seal the oath. Don't forget, blood is your power._ Izanami's voice took on a sinister edge as she said, _What better insurance of her silence than your blood mixing with her?_

"I'll use my Zanpakutō," I said, wondering what Izanami was up to and how crazy this Lisa woman was.

I clasped her hand and tried to pretend that her very feminine hand wasn't crushing me. She released my hand and sat back, apparently unconcerned about the cut on her palm. I healed mine without further ado gaining an arched brow from Lisa.

"You are interesting," she said as I was a specimen in a lab. "Well no point in teasing you with the sight of blood anymore." Her wounded hand glowed green and slowly healed. "So, what's your name, boy?" she asked.

I frowned. I never liked being called 'boy.' "I'm Potter Harry." I gave a short bow as was the proper way. Again a lesson in etiquette quickly taught during breakfast.

"I am Vice Captain of the 8th Division, Yadomaru Lisa," she said and gave a shallower bow than I did. Ah, she wanted to make it clear she was my superior. I was excited to meet a Vice Captain. That meant she was close to the highest echelons of power in the afterlife.

"It's nice to meet you Yadomaru-san," I said when she continued to assess me with her eyes.

"Is it?" she asked with that unchanging stolid expression.

I shrugged. "I like making new friends."

Her lips quirked for a shadow of a second as if she was going to smile. "Oh? We are friends now?"

"I don't know about us but your Zanpakutō and I are." I smiled at her as a loud buzzing and tiny laugh came from her sword.

She flicked the hand guard again with a curse under her breath. "So what are you doing in the flower arrangement club room?" she asked.

"Oh, that's what this is?" I motioned to the scroll sitting in front of me. "They asked me to come here and fill out my will."

She nodded as if that was the most normal thing in the world. "Ready for your first real Hollow extermination mission?"

"I don't know. It's my first day at the Academy. Guess things are different for me. I'm in Class Zero. Whatever that means," I said, hoping she'd enlighten me. She arched a brow which I realized was her standard reaction to anything that didn't bore her. She was a woman of very limited expressions. It was hard to figure out what she was thinking or feeling.

"Ah," she finally said. "So you're who everyone was talking about in the teachers' lounge. Well I better help you then," she said and adjusting her glasses on her nose took the will. She looked it over once. "This is the standard form. Did they just hand this to you and put you here?"

"Yes."

She hummed to herself then met my eyes. "Don't worry. I've advised many subordinates when this time came for them. Try to think of the ones who will miss you when you're gone. Leave a message for them or a token. The will isn't for you. It's for those you leave behind. Do you understand?"

Her words sobered me. "Oh," I said. "I can't think of anything to say but I know who I want my things to go to…if anything happens. Actually, I have one message."

She smiled at me and it transformed her into an attractive woman. "Go ahead."

I dipped the brush in the ink and clumsily wrote what I wanted. Rangiku would get anything I left behind and I asked Retsu to take care of my friend. I wanted to say much more to Retsu but memory of what Isshin had told me was too fresh for me to think too long about her. I rolled the scroll but before I could put it in my robes, the vice captain took it from my hands. She had a thread on her with which she tied a knot around my scroll.

"I'm your witness. I will have this put in the right place. It's best that you think of other things now," she said, slipping the scroll in the flap of her robes.

"Are you going to read it?" I asked.

"Unless you want me to, no," she answered softly.

I bowed expressing my thanks. "Are there other vice captains teaching here?"

She shook her head. "No. Ranked Shinigami hardly ever teach. Our duties keep us very busy. But sometimes we will teach an extracurricular class. I'm substituting for Captain Unohana of the healing division this week to lead her flower arrangement club. I was president of this club when I was a student here long ago," she explained. My mind had frozen when she said 'Captain Unohana.' Did she mean Retsu?

"Oh, will Captain Unohana be coming back?" I asked.

"I expect so," she answered suspiciously. "Don't pester her. It's very annoying when new students try to butter her up. Your skills won't even register at her level of power. She's sweet and kind, so don't take advantage of her gentleness." She frowned at me.

I answered in a hollow tone, "I won't." Maybe Retsu and Captain Unohana were just related and not the same person. They had the same last name and from what it sounded like the same personality. I noticed she was still watching me suspiciously, especially because I was spacing out. "I was just excited to meet a real captain," I said hoping to explain away my odd reaction.

"Hmm," she looked me up and down. "What do you think, Tonbo, is he worth my time? Recruiting the first ever Zero Class student into our division before others get to him might piss them off. Think it'll be fun?"

"Bzzz – you just want him to train for you with – Bzzz – his shirt off, pervert. But I like – Bzzz – my new friend too," Lisa-san's Zanpakuto spirit spoke.

"Stop calling me pervert," she said heatedly.

I was surprised to hear Lisa-san curse so much. She didn't seem the type. "I want to join a division right away. Does it matter which division I join?"

"Of course," she said. "Mine is the best. My captain is one of the senior most captains of the Gotei 13. He was also one of the first graduates of the Spiritual Arts Academy to be made a captain," she said proudly. "There's only one problem…" she said with a frown to herself.

"What?"

She crinkled her nose. "He's a lecher."

I just blinked at her not knowing what to say.

The dragonfly spirit appeared. It made a beeline for me and settled its ghostly shape on top of my head. Lisa san tracked it but didn't say anything. "Bzzz – let's keep him close, pervert. He knows- Bzzz – my secret. Join us – Bzzz – friend, I will make this pervert show you her smooth – Bzzz – virginal skin."

"Uhh, I-" I began.

"I'd keep my mouth shut unless you want me to tear your shorthairs out," Lisa san said with her expressionless face. I believed she was deadly serious so I just nodded my head. "Come on. Let's go see where you're supposed to go next. I will observe you today. My captain isn't ambitious enough to stick it to other divisions but I am. Let's go," she said.

With her Zanpakutō buzzing around me happily and making lewd comments about its master we went off to find my first class.

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Unohana Retsu personally oversaw the release of members of 6th Division who'd been injured in the exam. She'd made certain her best healers took care of them, so they felt their wounds couldn't have been so bad that it only took a night to heal. A few sweet words here and there convinced them that, of course, if they hadn't gone easy on the boy he'd never have hurt them that badly. With the pride of the 6th Division restored she retired to her office for a few quiet moments.

She smiled wryly to herself, wondering how well her machinations had worked out. A suggestion to the principle of the Academy that perhaps her flower arrangement room would be best to sooth a young boy's nerves at finding out he had to write a will would be honored as if it was a request. For once she took pleasure in knowing no one would dare deny her. After that remained arranging the encounter.

She had requested Yadomaru Lisa to prepare the room as soon as possible for club activities in the morning. That should mean that the meeting she'd planned was taking place. Yadomaru Lisa was vice captain to the only male Shingami Retsu knew to have a female Zanpakutō like Harry. Knowing Lisa-san's competitive nature and…private curiosities, Retsu expected the vice captain to take an especial interest in Harry. And what took Yadomaru Lisa's attention would inevitably attract her captain as well.

So far, Retsu thought, she'd done very well in setting Harry on the path to mastering his odd sword. Isshin-san would teach him the way of the Zanpakutō and Lisa san's captain would teach him to control the soul of the sword.

"I hope he can make some friends," she spoke out loud, staring pensively into space. Suddenly she laughed. "Doubtful, when the upperclassmen show up to test his mettle, he'll only make more enemies. Poor boy."

00000

A.N. I've gotten busy and it's taking me some time to write. That's why this chapter is on the shorter side. I've found most people appreciate regular updates over longer chapters, so I am posting what I have. Enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7

A.N. RL and sickness got me down and this update is later than the rate I was hoping to keep. Hopefully that will change from here on out. Thanks to Vash and Jon for content reviews, and Warlocke and CB for editing. Enjoy.

**'C' Cup**

How they were able to be so still irritated me. I fidgeted every few seconds sitting on the cushion with a low table in front of me covered with exam scrolls. The two instructors both taught Kidō at the Academy and wanted to see how much I knew. Just like my other school there was a theoretical and practical portion of the exam. Now usually I'm bad at theoretical but for once I could prattle on as well as my bushy haired friend on the nuances of Kidō history and theorems. It was probably because so much of Kidō was like offensive and defensive magic, something that had always been my strength. Of course even though I was being tested on my best subject, sitting in an uncomfortable position and writing with a brush was making me forget things.

"Che, this is illegible," Lisa-san said, bringing me out of my brooding. She'd stayed true to her word and followed me around. Now she was standing beside me looking at my work. "Sensei, just have him do this orally like the formal exams of the Gotei 13. His writing is making me nauseating."

"Thanks," I said, too frustrated to take offense. She'd been present during my first sword fighting lesson, I'd quickly become immune to her criticism after an hour of hearing it.

"What do you say, Potter-san? It's tougher on students to answer orally, you have less time to think," one of the unnamed instructors prompted. He was sitting at the far end of the room beside a calligraphy hanging and looked like he'd been sleeping sitting up.

"Please, if you want I can read off the question and answer it. I don't have much writing practice," I said. Lisa-san kneeled next to me and took the sheaf of papers to organize them.

"Writing well isn't necessary for a Shinigami. Just another thing nobles feel like we should teach. Go on, Potter-san," the second instructor sitting on the other side of the calligraphy tapestry said derisively.

"Ahem," Lisa-san cleared her throat. "Explain why the Way of Destruction 11 Bound Lightning requires physical contact."

She looked at me over her serious rectangle glasses and I smiled in relief. Finally I could start answering without worrying about my exam sheets looking like a five year old's watercolor painting. I answered in much detail, enough that the instructors had to ask Lisa-san to move on. In that way I worked through a mountain of questions at least one foot high.

At the end Lisa-san's voice was dying and the instructors seemed to have dozed off. I was getting ticked off. Why did they ask me all this and not show any interest? Probably for the first time I understood why Hermione got angry at us. Though even professors couldn't take her enthusiasm on some days.

"Well, you have expert knowledge in some areas, novice or worse in others. Spotty training, but what you know you really know. You don't know the details of some high level communication spells, but you have good theories you've come up with about how they work. If you were being treated as any normal student, you'd have passed the Academy's Kidō exams, not well, but you would've passed" Lisa-san said to me. She snorted when she saw the instructors. "Oi!"

She stood up and walked to them as they jerked awake. She dropped the stack of papers between them with a slapping sound. One of them took the top sheet which Lisa-san had been marking on and the other leaned over to look at it.

"Vice Captain…is this all as it was? I became lost in meditation toward the end," one instructor said scratching his head and smiling sheepishly.

From my angle I couldn't see Lisa-san's face but the way the two Shinigami instructors cringed back I had a feeling there was a death glare behind those red glasses. "So, what now?" I asked.

"You have mathematics with Class One. Someone will come for you after that," the instructor dismissed me as he pored over Lisa-san's notes.

She scoffed and turned about-face motioning me imperiously to follow her. I got up trying not to show the pain of pins and needles in my legs. "Math? Are they serious?"

Lisa-san gave me a sidelong glance. "Shinigami keep the balance of souls in the worlds, Potter-kun. How can you do that if you can't even guess my bra size. Math class it is."

It was the second time that morning Lisa-san had made me speechless. I guessed she was a 'B.' I made the mistake of muttering my guess out under my breath.

Lisa-san halted and turned into me. Damn the woman for being taller than me. She stepped into my personal space so that her lips were at my eye level and I could feel her hot breath on my skin. Her chest brushed against mine like a feather and she said, "C."

Then she walked away leaving me embarrassed and just a little turned on.

_000000_

The hallways of the Shinigami Academy like almost anything else about it were big. Hardwood gleamed at every turn and I could see why they didn't want us wearing shoes inside. It would ruin the polish. Though it felt weird to be walking around in socks all over the place. Unlike Hogwarts the walls of the Academy weren't adorned with many decorations. It was very plain looking but clean. I guess that's the difference between a military academy and a magic school.

Lisa-san seemed to be lost in thought. She was a slender and quiet woman but still seemed to have a big presence. I felt like I had to behave and be proper in her presence. The teachers certainly were treating her respectfully. I suppose the level of a Vice Captain was pretty high. And I wasn't quite over her making me uncomfortable by getting physical with me.

"I hope you're not falling in love with me the way you keep looking at me," she said breaking the silence. "I have no interest in men compared to whom I have wider shoulders. Put some more meat on yourself before gawking at me."

My face heated up. "I wasn't checking you out. I was just wondering how important Vice Captains are, is all." I looked straight ahead and ignored her for the rest of the way. The comment about my skinniness really touched a nerve. I had to do something about it.

"Here, I have to leave you now. I will speak with the headmaster about you. Good luck," she said with a nod and walked away from me. This time I did stare a while, her personalized uniform did show a lot of toned leg. Something moved and caught my attention. A black cat was sitting on one of the high window sills washing its face. "Here, kitty," I called out. It didn't come down but glared at me with its amber eyes. I wonder who it belonged to, I kept seeing it everywhere.

Shrugging I left the cat to its own devices. I knocked and entered the classroom. I almost wept for joy when I saw real chairs lined behind curving benches. I cleared my throat finding myself the target of multiple stares. I'd apparently interrupted the class.

"Sorry, they told me I had to come here next," I said to the Shinigami instructor I'd seen at the morning assembly. The large ledger he'd been holding then was sitting on a desk.

"Come in, Potter-san, complete the test. We will go on from there," the slight Shinigami with long black hair smiled at me.

I was happy to see someone being pleasant and smiled back with a thank you. Taking the sheets from him I found a seat on a bench Rangiku was sharing with some other students. She winked at me but went back to her test.

"And why is the exalted Class Zero student slumming with us lowly Class Ones this morning?" some student I hadn't met called out from behind me. His tone said it all; he hated me.

I didn't turn to look at him but answered him anyway, "They haven't figured out how to make mathematics fatal yet, so I'll be taking it easy with you." That earned me some laughs and the teacher smiled too.

I stared at the questions on the page. It had been a long time since I'd done math and seeing it in Japanese wasn't helping much either. Just as earlier that morning I had this feeling that someone was very close to me. This time it didn't startle me and I looked casually to where the empty space should've been at my right. Annette was sitting there frowning at my sheet still looking like a doll in her yellow gown.

"What-are-you-doing?" I asked sotto voce.

"Helping, Master," she said at normal volume.

I gave her a sharp look hoping she'd get the message and disappear. "They will see you," I said under my breath.

"Only you can see me, Master. My lady said you haven't studied mathematics in years, so I will be telling you how to solve these. My, it's so interesting to read Japanese without learning it. It's so fascinating. So what you do is…" she went on to tell me how to do every question. It started out with simple addition and subtraction type problems but soon enough we were doing geometry and algebra. I was lost but thanks to Annette I filled in all the questions.

I even forgave her for siding with Izanami earlier.

00000

Yadōmaru Lisa left the principal's office cursing. The old man had corralled her into 'volunteering' her time in exchange for information on Potter Harry. Lisa had expressed her interest in recruiting him clearly, but the old man had been cagey. He wouldn't let her have him, saying only that the boy was going to be the pride of the Academy and he wasn't going to let the divisions mess with his training.

Lisa had tried her best to make a case but even the request of a Vice Captain was not enough to sway the principal. It only made her more determined. What was it about the kid that was so special? She wondered if Potter-san was even worth the time she would be 'volunteering' at the Academy in exchange for the little information the principle had given up. Her interest in him beyond self preservation was whimsical. Although, she allowed herself that he had shown odd abilities and like any smart warrior she wanted to know the strengths and weaknesses of such. But if she were honest with herself she was simply curious. Life had gotten so dull at the top. Hardly anything fun happened.

If nothing else it would be amusing to get him to see other Zanpakutō spirits and tell her what they were. She couldn't wait to use him on her captain.

"Why am I wasting my time?" she asked her Zanpakutō.

"You haven't had a pet in a long time," the spirit of her blade replied without the buzzing affectation.

"Is that all there is?" she asked.

The spirit buzzed in a way she knew meant it was annoyed, and didn't say anything more. Lisa smiled to herself. She wondered how much she would hate herself for wasting time once she was bored of Potter Harry.

00000

A pentagram came to life on the wooden floor letting off a sweet incense-like smell. Fire winked out of it about a foot high. It licked the boy's legs but didn't harm him. He stood with his head hung and eyes shut and quiet. Lisa shared a wary look with the senior Kidō instructor. The boy was invoking the highest level demon magic he knew without an incantation and worse without even calling out the name of the spell. He was utterly silent. To have such frightful control, he couldn't be anything but a prodigy.

Like breath condensing in the air, symbols of the demon magic began appearing around him. The fire at his feet leapt at the symbols ringing them in wreathes of flame. The pentagram disappeared and suddenly the symbols of air and fire were loose. They twisted and whirled in the air threatening any spiritual entity around them.

"I can't believe it," Yadōmaru Lisa whispered to herself feeling the power of the magic whipping around the boy's still form. She could see the twelve symbols were trying to break away from his control to attack her or the instructor. The boy's fingers twitched as if invisible threads tied the summoned magic to his hands and the symbols jerked back.

It was an incredibly complex bit of magic, each symbol could change to a binding or destructive spell on the whim of the summoner. The only clue to the power in the symbols was their composition, in the boy's case it was air and fire. Lisa wondered how strong they were: could they immolate her or could the air essence steal her breath? Was she going to let herself believe he was that talented?

"Is this enough?" Potter-kun asked quietly as if he wasn't in the nexus of a fiery twister. "I can't hold it much longer."

"Yes, that's enough," Onabara-sensei said quickly.

Potter-kun clapped his hands over his head. The symbols rushed into his hands and exploded upwards into the sky, shooting a column of fire and wind. Lisa was staring at the sky where the demon magic had disappeared so she didn't see right away that her new found interest had collapsed to his hands and knees. He was heaving and shaking.

"You're a little scary, kid. Performing a level 90 combined destructive and binding spell. I'm surprised you're not dead," Lisa said with a small smile to hide her jealousy. Kidō was not her specialty, she was a swordswoman and a specialist at that.

"He still needs more control, that was volatile," Onabara-sensei said kneeling next to Potter-san. The large man's size eclipsed the kid making the latter look fragile. "If you'd incanted the spell properly, like you are supposed to, Potter-kun, the spell would have been easier to handle."

The kid shook his head and stood up swaying a little. "Incantations are too long. What's the point if they kill you as soon as they hear you starting off the spell? Fights are fast, if magic isn't quick enough to keep up it's useless."

The way Onabara-sensei's brows knotted on his bald head told Lisa he was pissed.. "Next time you rush through a level 90 demon art spell make sure no one is around. That way you will only kill yourself. Is that understood? If you need to be fast in a fight, use your sword."

The kid nodded once dismissively. "Yes, sensei."

The large Shinigami folded his arms and stared down at the slight boy. Lisa rolled her eyes at the posturing. He should give the kid a break, Lisa thought to herself. It was night, long past classes had let out for the day. Potter-kun's day was only then ending - and her own as well, she mused.

Lisa wondered again why she'd wasted an entire day at the Academy. Her curiosity really got the best of her some times. If she was less bored she wouldn't be hanging out with a first year Academy student, trying to recruit him before anyone even gave a damn about his existence.

"A week from today you have a test on types of Hollows. You will take the written exam and then join your seniors on a live training mission. If you don't learn all you need to know in a week's time, you're dead. You will be working alone, others will be in teams. Is that understood?" Onabara-sensei said.

Lisa frowned. That was a little harsh.

"I'll be ready in three days," the kid responded meeting the taller man's eyes.

"You have five hours of sword practice, four hours of martial arts, two hours of physical training _without_ the aid of reiatsu, an hour of Shinigami history and tactics every day this week. I'm sure you'll be ready for the test on Hollows in three days with that schedule," Onabara-sensei said quietly. "And don't forget you will be expected to put time in an Academy club as is required of every student."

"Hmm, I was wondering what his schedule was going to be," Lisa said aloud not betraying what she thought of the trying time table. The kid's eyes snapped to hers in anger. She raised a brow, trying to send a message that he should calm down. An entire day of testing hadn't been easy on him. And the twelve hour plus training days that were ahead of him wouldn't let him rest any time soon. A normal schedule for Academy recruits was only seven hour long daily. She didn't envy the only student of Class Zero.

"I'll be ready in two to take the test, Onabara-sensei," the kid finally said looking away from Lisa. She was pleased to hear his polite tone. Maybe her message had gotten through.

"Don't regret it," Onabara-sensei said and left without another word.

Lisa stayed leaning against the back wall of the Kidō firing range until the senior instructor left. The kid's arms hung listlessly and he was bowing his head. The sky had darkened dramatically leaving him illuminated only by the moon.

"That wasn't smart, boyo," Lisa called out. "I didn't think you were the type to lose your cool." She pushed off the wall and made her way over to him, stepping gingerly on the loose sand of the spell firing range. She hated it getting inside her sandals. "I need to get back to my division now. Take my advice, take a break and start acting maturely like you were this morning. You won't last..." she trailed off as the kid turned his head to look at her.

Everything in her peripheral vision darkened and she stared unblinkingly at the kid. She could feel her eyes tensing as they tried to drink in the sight of him. He was bathed in moonlight and was looking back at her just as intently as her. His eyes...she'd thought his eyes had been an attractive green...were pale almost white. Was it a trick of the light? she wondered but didn't care too long. She couldn't look away from his face, from those faint irises.

She could feel her heart beat loudly. Blood rushed to her face as she drank in each tendril of hair falling in his face, the arch of his cheeks on his too thin face. He raised his arm and languidly motioned her over. Lisa felt herself walk without thinking about it. When she reached him she smelled the sweat and dirt on him and shuddered; something animalistic inside her reared.

Her heart pounded in her ears and molten heat settled between her legs. She tilted her head baring her neck for the boy. An electric charge went through her thinking how his height was perfect to reach her throat. She wondered if he could see the artery throbbing with her excitement or if she was the only one who felt it.

He was such a beautiful man, she wondered why she hadn't noticed before. She shifted weight from foot to foot when the warmth got too much and felt the slickness when her thighs rubbed against each other. She reached up to her collar and pulled apart her short robes so he could see more than just her neck. She smiled cattily as she thought of the look on his face when she had brushed her breasts against his chest earlier that day.

She stood on offer, waiting for whatever came next. He snaked his arms around her waist pulling her hips close to his. On contact Lisa swallowed painfully, suddenly finding her mouth dry. She felt his breath inches away from the skin of her neck, and waited frozen. She smelled him in, waiting, feeling the flame insider her become unbearable. But she didn't move or demand anything. Her place was to wait in delicious suspense, she knew that, she was content in that agony.

His tongue drew a line next to her pulsating artery. Lisa breathed in sharply, all thought and reason inflamed. She felt him place his teeth on her skin and the mixture of warm breath and oddly cool saliva made her want him to take her, to consume her. She clenched her jaw shut before the moan could escape her. It was there, almost, the moment of release. She knew it!

But then he pushed her away violently.

He screamed and stumbled back falling on the ground. Lisa stared at him feeling dejected but also confused.

"What's happening to me?!" he screamed holding his head with fingers twisted in his hair. In the moonlight the color of his eyes shone as it returned to green from white.

Lisa shook her head feeling like her mind was foggy. She didn't remember what had happened between Onabara leaving and her taking her leave. She rushed to the boy who was folded in on himself as if he was bearing a great pain.

"Water! Thirsty!" he yelled at her.

For a second Lisa paused, wanting to berate him for his bad manners, but seeing how his face was pulled in pain she ran out of the range to the water cooler. She was lucky to find a wooden bowl and quickly filled it. When she came back to the range entering through door-less doorway the boy was leaning against a pillar on the observation platform.

She walked to him softly seeing that he was taking deep breaths and had seemed to calm down. He was still holding one arm tightly against his stomach as if it hurt him badly. He took the bowl of water from her with a grateful look and drank in small sips. Lisa forgave him for his rudeness and sat next to him. She noticed that her robe had come undone at some point and frowned before tying it close.

"How hard did you push yourself to cast that spell earlier?" she asked.

"Almost killed myself. I don't know what happened, I'm so hungry, I could eat...anything. Hell, I almost did...I don't even know how to apologize to you for that," he said.

Lisa stared at him expressionlessly. She didn't know what he was talking about. "You don't need to apologize to me, Potter-kun. Get yourself to the mess hall and eat. Training this hard will be difficult if you're not well fed." She stood up, knowing from experience that a man who has shown himself to her in a weak moment will not thank her for trying to help too long. He needed her to leave him to make his own painful way back. Besides, he was a soldier in training, she couldn't afford to coddle him. "That's an order, Potter-kun. Go! Eat!"

She waited till he had picked himself up and trudged out of the Kidō spell range. Then she followed him at a distance, out of sight, until he made it to the mess hall. She saw as a red haired girl who had been waiting outside the building went up to him and took his arm.

Then she left for her division. Wondering if she had more than she could handle to allay her boredom. She had no memory of offering her neck to the boy.

00000

The ringing in my ears was gone. Rangiku was talking to me but I couldn't really focus. She stopped after I didn't respond to any of her questions. The mess hall was nearly empty. Rangiku had begged, flirted, and cajoled the cooks to keep it open till I could get food. I wanted to thank her but my mind was drenched in fear of what had almost happened with Lisa-san. I didn't even understand what was going on. All day I'd been getting angrier and angrier for no reason. Sure the endless tests, interviews, and one effing etiquette lesson after another were irritating me, but it was not nearly enough to make me want to slice anything I saw moving in half.

I'd been disrespectful to Onabara-sensei who from what I'd heard was a very senior teacher at the academy. I made a fool of myself claiming I'd be ready in two days for something that it took years for students at the academy to prepare for. But worst of all was the thirst and hunger. I'd never been that ravenous in my life. The hungrier I became the angrier I was.

Casting that last spell was almost the end of me. Handling twelve different strands of magic that kept changing their nature from moment to moment took inhuman concentration. I'd held it together by sheer will alone.

And then I'd almost eaten Lisa-san? I couldn't even believe thinking that thought in my head. It was like she had been under the Imperius. She had looked unearthly gorgeous. The sheen of her skin was mesmerizing, the rushing blood that I could _hear _in her pulsing veins made me want to drink till she was inside me. Each throb on her exposed neck was a tug at something inside. I'd wanted her more than I've ever wanted anything in the world. I _needed_ to taste her skin, to wet my mouth with her blood.

I shuddered as a wave of nausea hit me. Rangiku rubbed circles on my back and I felt myself calm down. "I'm thirsty," I whispered.

Rangiku pushed a cup of water to me. "Here, what's wrong?"

I gulped down all the water but didn't feel the thirst die. "I don't know. I'm thirsty and hungry, and it's not ending. I've eaten so much food."

"Maybe it's puberty," Rangiku said.

I shot her a look and my angry words died in my mouth. Her copper hair was pulled back by a black band that only pronounced the tightness of her skin and the worry in her eyes. "I don't know," I said. "Are you alright? Did something happen?" I asked, thinking something was wrong with her by her off expression.

She shrugged. "They don't want us here. Think we're too full of ourselves. Just trash from the outer districts of Rukongai. Don't worry about it, I just got into too many fights my first day," she said.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Idiot," she said and ran her fingers through my hair in the way she knew comforted me. "It's not really puberty, is it?" she asked changing the subject back to me.

I shook my head. "I think it's something magical. I've been losing my temper all day and I almost...ate someone."

Her hand froze in my hair. "Ate someone?"

I grimaced at her flat tone. "I felt like I needed her blood," I explained.

Rangiku stood up with a furious face and jerked my sword out of the sash that I had to wear like a belt to keep everything in place.

"Rangiku, what..." I didn't get to finish because she'd started hollering at my sword.

She screamed at it, "What the fuck are you doing to him, you crazy bitch? Bloodthirsty slut! Stop hurting him or I will break you into two!"

I stumbled off the bench in my hurry to stop her. The cooks who had been hanging out at the end of the hall were looking at us. I grabbed Rangiku by the arm and took the sword with my free hand. "People are watching!" I hissed at her and manhandled her out of the mess hall.

Luckily the mess hall led out into the main courtyard of the Academy where we'd assembled that morning. It felt like an age ago. But the night's cool air and the beautiful scenery calmed me and seemingly Rangiku too. She huffed and strode ahead of me to a bench under a cherry blossom tree. She plopped down with more violence than necessary and glared at my sword. "You need to put that woman in her place, Harry," she started off.

I agreed mentally but didn't say anything to encourage her. If Izanami started seeing Rangiku as an enemy, Merlin help her. I sat next to my friend and finally brought my mind around to her accusation. Was it really my sword making me feel and act strangely? It had the ring of truth.

As if summoned, Annette appeared beside us. She stood with her head bowed. She glowed white as if she was made of the moonlight. I looked to Rangiku but she didn't seem like she'd seen Annette.

"Forgive me, Master. I am a face of death, to master me you have to master my strengths and weaknesses. I was the queen of the night but I was always a slave to my hunger. But you are the Master of Death, you can dominate the Need that has awoken in you because of me. I am so sorry," she said tearfully.

The anger I'd been feeling all day surged like a wave. "Bring Izanami _now!"_ I growled at the vampiress. She gave a hurried curtsey and disappeared from my sight. The shadow of the Sakura tree Rangiku and I were sitting under flickered and folded unnaturally before rising into the air to form Izanami's robes.

Midnight blacks and blues of the shadow slipped like silk over her body, leaving bare shoulders and a plunging neckline that any other time would've embarrassed me. A simple silver tiara adorned the ringlets of shining hair falling past her bosom. The cascading hair accentuated the exposed curves as in the gentle wind it swayed to _sometimes_ ensure modesty.

Rangiku gasped next to me and blurted, "Who are you? Where'd you come from?"

Izanami's eyes shone as they caught the moonlight over the transparent veil she was wearing. "I am the Goddess of Death, or the divine being you were just calling 'a bloodthirsty slut.'" Menace mixed with her amused tone. Rangiku shrunk a little and grabbed my sleeve. It was unlike her to be intimidated.

"Leave her alone," I said. "What did you do?"

Izanami stepped forward; she was barefoot I noticed. She reached out and ran her hand through Rangiku's hair. I was proud of my friend for not flinching even though I could feel her fingers digging into my arm. "Thank you for taking care of my little flower, Rangiku. Do not fear me, she who loves my pet is in my care," she said, cupping Rangiku's chin.

Izanami was influencing Rangiku somehow, I had a suspicion she was using her magic because Rangiku relaxed suddenly and leaned into Izanami's hand.

"Izanami?" I prompted. "What are you doing?"

Izanami looked at me and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't help it. Every time she smiled at me I imagined it was my mother looking at me fondly. She said, "You promised me to lend me your power. She merely feels my love for her, or perhaps, _our_ love for her."

Rangiku pulled back hearing this and her eyes were filled with wariness. Izanami chuckled and dropped her hand. I stood up feeling the rage building inside me too much to hold. "Start talking before I do something…" I couldn't decide what was that 'something' I was afraid of other than losing control.

"Annette explained to you the task, dear heart. To master this aspect you must do what is unthinkable for a vampire, quench the thirst forever. Rangiku-chan, if you want to help Harry you should let him drink your blood and eat your flesh." Izanami cackled and vanished, only leaving the echoes of her laughter on the wind.

"Is she serious?" Rangiku asked in the stunned silence in Izanami's wake.

I felt like there were snakes under my skin, writing in hunger and fury. I felt like tearing them out and choking Izanami. "No!" I growled out past the pain.

"Harry?" Rangiku put her hand on my back.

"Don't touch me!" I shouted at her and clenched my teeth. I could feel the itch in my gums to bite. I'd felt it only an hour ago when Lisa-san had exposed her neck to me.

"We need to get out of here. You don't look good. Let's try and keep your mind off of it," she said and pulled me in some direction. I wasn't paying attention, my vision was throbbing black and red with the need.

"How?" I gasped. I was holding on to sanity barely.

"You have a test on Hollows in two days, right? We better study for it till we figure out what to do," she said decisively and guided me to her room. "Shoo, cat!"

I heard a cat's annoyed meow and wondered if it was the same black one who'd been stalking me all day.

I'm glad Rangiku's roommate was Kukaku. And doubly happy that she knew binding Kidō to trap me that night when Rangiku was hypnotized by Annette's powers to offer her body to me.

000000

The Princess of the Shihoin clan was dressed in an unadorned Special Ops uniform. She peered unseen into her friend, Shiba Kukaku's, room and sheathed her sword. She was grateful for Kukaku's skill at Kidō and her quick thinking. If she hadn't paralyzed Potter Harry, the princess would've had to execute him on the spot. To be safe Shihoin Yoruichi crouched on the window sill, making herself comfortable for the night and kept vigil.

She was afraid, however, that she would have to throw the promising boy into detention. For her friend's sake she was giving him yet another chance. But she wondered what a threat she was allowing to walk free if he couldn't control his obviously powerful Zanpakutō that he had materialized in the real world without any effort.

She sighed to herself and watched.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A.N.**__Currently not beta'd. It will be fairly soon so please excuse typos and grammatical errors for now. Thanks for all the reviews. As always you all have great ideas I can take for the story. Enjoy. _

_**The Master's Duty**_

Canvas stretched over wooden frames called _fusuma_ were all the excuse for privacy I had between me and the world while I marinated in the communal bath. The beige panels forming doors and walls were painted with vibrant flowers, trees, and rolling hills that disappeared into mist. It was relaxing but a little fancy for a men's bath.

Faucets lined the edges of the hall-like room where one would wash off the grime from the day. In the center was a shallow but wide bath capable of holding many. My bandages and wounds didn't make it easy to wash so I'd dipped into the bath to enjoy the rare moment of solitude. After all, no one would use the bath in the middle of the day, everyone was off to classes. I'd been given a reprieve of a couple of hours to rest before my exam on Hollows that night, and on Souske-sensei's suggestion decided to spend it in hot water.

My skin itched under the bandages and my injuries didn't appreciate the water irritating them. So I sat tensed, wanting to relax but unable to. I sighed. I needed a break. Annette's hunger and anger had worn down my nerves. The hunger was a persistent dull ache throbbing in my veins, but I had better control over her wrath. It probably surprised Izanami that I could adjust to it so quickly; maybe she'd forgotten I was too familiar with feeling someone else's rage. I scoffed at the thought that I actually had something to be thankful for being marked by Voldemort.

A canvas door slid aside behind me and I almost growled in annoyance. I wanted to be left in peace and I wasn't much for public nudity. You went to the bathroom, you washed, you didn't look at anyone, and you didn't talk to anyone, those were my rules. But everyone seemed to operate by a different code. Going to the bath was like going to a bloody tea party. I maintained a stony silence, steadily ignoring my curiosity about who else was free in the middle of the school day to waste time bathing.

I heard the ripples before I saw the shapely leg disturb the water surface on my right side. In the next second the thought that I'd just admired someone's leg in the _men's_ bath crossed my mind. Another leg entered on my left side. I snapped my head up to find whose fine legs I was cornered between. I met sapphire blue eyes gleaming in mischief framed by tousled midnight hair.

"Retsu?" I breathed.

I crossed my legs.

"Harry-chan," she greeted. "I thought you would be in classes. But I'm glad you're taking time for yourself." She was sitting on the ledge of the bath behind me dangling her legs into the pool.

"This is the men's bathroom," I said, wondering why that glaring fact hadn't dissuaded her from coming in.

"Mhm," she agreed and continued to smile at me. She'd grabbed my face from behind so I was forced to keep arching back to look at her. She was dressed in a white bathrobe that came mid-thigh. Her hair was loose for the first time and tickled my cheeks as she bent over me.

I felt her reiatsu run through her fingers. I gasped at its force and the comfort it brought. Annette's hunger dissipated under Retsu's presence inside me and I breathed, it felt like, for the first time in months. When I'd first met Retsu I didn't know how to distinguish the feeling of others' spiritual strength. I'd only known her and no other of significant Reiryoku. But after months of living with Rangiku and healing people I finally could recognize Retsu's spirit. Unlike Vice Captain Lisa's choking humid pressure, Retsu was an ocean which enveloped me. There were no waves that crashed on me, no whirlpools of death, it was simply and utterly being surrounded by the stillness of a thing so great I could never encompass it.

It was frightening knowing I'd been swallowed without any dramatic warning into an entity so vast. But there was comfort in that immense embrace, in the endlessness of her presence. I felt currents of the ocean play gently over my skin and drowned in her.

Peace.

Contentment.

My face became slack but her eyes now no longer mischievous but nurturing kept me from drifting off in bliss. My little vampiress's hunger and wrath had no place in front of Retsu. I felt myself slipping into the bath when her healing magic made me boneless where I was tense before. Retsu quickly trapped me between her legs. Their smooth touch against my sides sent a jolt of a different kind through me. She slid inside the pool to hug me from behind. She rested the back of my head against her shoulder and began unwrapping the bandages on my torso. The sheet of her hair fell on my chest becoming wet from my skin.

I was very glad I had my legs crossed. I could have protested what she was doing but I wasn't that stupid and any embarrassment I felt was insignificant compared to feeling like I was enveloped in her oceanic spirit.

"My sweet friend," Retsu said with an exasperated sigh next to my face as she steadily worked on removing the strips that made me look like a zombie. "You have to keep up with your reiatsu training. Without meditation you will never learn why your power is wreaking havoc on your spirit and body. You're like a vengeful river tearing through the side of a mountain, cutting rock and life in your path in your mad hurry." She sounded sad.

I smiled happily. "Is that what I feel like, a river?"

"Yes. And I was admonishing you, Harry-kun, nothing to smile about," she said and for the first time I heard a note of confusion in her.

My grin widened. "It just makes sense now why I'm happy when I feel your reiatsu. You're an ocean…we belong," I said the last in wonder to myself, and then became uncomfortable because I'd said it out loud. She froze a moment at my words then chuckled to herself.

"So you become romantic in the bath…that's cute, Harry-chan," she said with a laugh.

I thanked her mentally for making light of my confession. "I talked to Isshin-sensei. He told you about District 80…" I felt my throat constrict and mouth dry. I didn't know what else to say.

Retsu sighed. "Harry," she said taking my name without honorifics for the first time. I'd learned enough by then to know that taking just my name meant she felt an intimate connection with me. "Do you remember the day you and I talked about your idea to go to District 80?"

"Yes." I nodded and accidentally ended up snuggling closer to her neck.

I was about to move before she laid her cheek on the top of my head, pinning me. Her hands rested on my chest where her steady healing spells flowed into the cuts and wounds still left behind from the entrance exam. "I knew what you would have to do. I knew blood would be on your hands. The reason I didn't want you to go wasn't that you would have to kill. The reasons were that I was afraid you would die or that you wouldn't be able to leave your childhood behind. And that's what has happened, you lived, but you didn't grow up."

I frowned. This wasn't how I thought the conversation would go at all. "What do you mean? I don't understand."

Retsu moved her fingers under the bandages on my stomach removing them before she continued, "I didn't want the boy I knew to go away, Harry-kun. I liked the child I met, but the child wanted to be a warrior, and warriors aren't children, no matter how young they are. I hoped for your sake that you would come out of District 80 both alive and a man. I'm sorry to speak harshly, Harry, but you're dear to me and too far from me to take time to teach you gently what you should know. Do you forgive me?"

I was still confused but also ashamed of myself. She was disappointed, it was obvious. I don't know how many ways she'd called me a naïve child in the last minute but I'd winced inside every time she implied it. "Just say it, Retsu."

"I won't say that you shouldn't feel bad about what you did because only evil people died at your hands. A warrior's path isn't so simple. But I will tell you that you followed the law of the battlefield, to survive, to keep your own safe, and to protect what you've decided needs protecting. To do that you slaughtered both evil men and those who've had no other path open to them but of crime. Were you cruel? Yes, you were." She said and slipped out from behind me and lifted herself on the ledge. "I need to heal your legs and feet. Come out of the pool," she said handing me the towel I'd brought with me.

Feeling an immense weight on my soul I followed her out, quickly wrapping the small towel around my waist. "Doesn't my being cruel bother you? Isn't it wrong?" I demanded desperately. I couldn't understand how this gentle woman, who was my sanctuary, could talk about my sins so easily.

"No and no," she said with a smile. Her robes were wet and hugged her body close showing off the contours I'd felt pressed against me just a while ago. I tried to keep my eyes firmly on the floor as she took care of my legs. "War, battle, it's all cruel, all wrong, all evil, you chose this path, Harry. As I did a very long time ago. This is what it means just to be a soldier, so be prepared for much more if you want to be a captain. I wish we'd talked about this sooner. It's too late to choose between being a child or a warrior. The only way is to leave the boy behind. The _only_ way," she pressed, lifting my chin so her eyes bore her words into my mind.

I swallowed past the hard feeling in my throat and nodded. "I will." Then after a pause I added, "I thought you would hate me."

Retsu laughed with abandon, totally at odds with the heavy mood. "Then I would have to hate myself and that's not happening, Harry-chan. Now for the bad news, your feet and legs will be scarred. Running like a fool on the Bridge of Regret. Honestly." She shook her head indulgently at me.

I snorted and felt my spirits lift. She didn't despise me. I was happy despite my own feelings on what I'd done. "Hey! You didn't tell me you're a captain! How could you?" I suddenly yelled. I'd confirmed my suspicion that the Captain Unohana Vice Captain Lisa had mentioned was one and the same as the Retsu I knew after describing her to some older students.

Retsu's sapphire eyes widened in mock shock. "You found out already? Isn't it a fun surprise? I wish I could've seen your face when you figured it out!" she chortled.

I scowled at her. She wasn't repentant at all. "Why didn't you tell me? It's kinda important."

Retsu hummed serenely and tapped my knee. "There, there, Harry-chan, you promised me you'd stay my friend even if things changed. Don't be angry with me."

I rolled my eyes at her deflection. "I'm not mad. I just wish I knew why you lied to me."

"Because," she said seriously. "I didn't want you to worship me like you will see all your classmates do to captains. Now get dressed, we have a lot to talk about before your Hollow exam tonight." She stood up without waiting for me to react to her confession.

It was one of those times I felt nothing separated us. I knew exactly how she felt. Being the Boy-Who-Lived meant being on a pedestal. She just wanted to be real to me. I could grant that wish easily. She'd already made it to the door to the changing room when she turned to me and said, "How did you like Vice Captain Lisa? I hope the date I set up for you two went well." She gave me her serene closed eyed smile and walked off leaving me stunned.

"What do you mean 'date?!'" I shouted behind her too late.

000000

The levity melted away from Retsu's face when she entered the changing room. She'd known, of course, that once Harry entered the Academy it was only a question of 'when' not 'if' he found out about her station. She'd been surprised by how much she was worried about his reaction. In the end, it seemed, making light of the fact she omitted to ever tell him about her captaincy was the best path. He was upset, she could tell, but not as much as she'd feared. Perhaps it was because of the many other things weighing him down.

She sighed to herself as she changed into her black Shinigami robes. She wondered if speaking as gently as she could about the wasteful guilt and remorse he was holding on to was enough. Maybe she should've been harsher, but it had been too much fun teasing him in the pool to ruin the mood completely. She smiled. He really didn't know what to do around women, even if he accidentally said sweet things.

Harry was waiting for her out in the corridor leading to his dormitory. He was wearing a simple bathrobe and his hair was still dripping wet. He looked better than when she found him in the bath, all tense and worn. His Zanpakutō training wasn't coming along well if the turmoil she felt inside him was any measure. It was time to speak to him about his reiryoku. With a Hollow killing mission on the horizon he couldn't be distracted by his internal storm.

"Harry-kun," she greeted with a smile. He relaxed at her voice and his shoulders dropped a little. She was pleased to have that effect on him. Taking his arm she padded down the narrow hallway that lined doors to dorm rooms on either side. "You're not upset about my being a captain, are you?" she asked.

He smiled wearily. "I'm your friend. Just trust me from now on," he said and lightly squeezed her hand that was wrapped around his arm.

Retsu relaxed as well. The burden lifted. She could move on and be with him without all the uncertainty that she felt surrounded their relationship. "Thank you, Harry-chan," she said using the diminutive honorific to rile him. "But we're going to have to keep our friendship a secret for now."

He frowned. "Why?" he asked in a tone that warned her he was spoiling for an argument.

"Our society is very old and steeped in tradition, Harry-chan. The way you are familiar with me would be frowned upon. I don't want any outside pressures on our friendship. You're my secret, I want to keep it that way," she said more possessively than she'd intended. As always she was surprised pleasantly by her own emotions when it came to her young friend. He chuckled. It seemed alien on his exhausted face but it was heartening, Retsu thought.

"So where's your room?" she asked when it looked like he was going to keep walking arm-in-arm with her right out of the dormitories and onto the Academy grounds.

His eyes got wide as if she'd sprung something on him. He looked from door to door. "Maybe there's a sign…"

Retsu looked serenely at him and asked, "Harry-chan, why don't you know where your room is?"

He blushed and didn't meet her eyes. "I've been staying with Rangiku and Kukaku-san." Then he looked up with a worried expression. "It's not like how it sounds! They were just taking care of me."

The slight smile on Retsu's face grew to a full grin before she started laughing. "And I was worried-" she said between laughing, "that you wouldn't make friends. You ended up making _very_ _good_ friends," she teased with a wink. He blushed more than he had when she knew he'd been feeling her body in the bath. She felt a tinge of irritation that she was able to make him more uncomfortable with words than her breasts pressed against him through wet cloth. She dismissed the thought, a little surprised at her feelings.

"Izanami is training me…it makes me lose control. They were helping," he explained through clenched teeth.

"I'm glad," Retsu said sincerely. "Hold on to them, Harry-chan. Eternity is a long time to live without friends."

She didn't think she'd betrayed the loneliness in her heart but Harry had understood her better than she wanted. He gave her a look and in his typical disregard for proper manners hugged her. His wet hair stuck to her cheek making his embrace less than perfect. Retsu patted his back even though he was comforting her. She was torn between affection and exasperation. Her very young friend simply had no sense of how a man and woman not of the same family should behave physically around each other.

She snorted to herself thinking about how badly she'd been trying to tease him in the bath with her almost nakedness. She smiled wryly thinking he'd managed to embarrass her when she was fully clothed and she'd failed even when she had been pressed against him in the intimacy of a bath. But, she reminded herself, he's just a child. So very, terribly, young. Only awkwardly stepping into manhood.

The last thought helped her gain perspective and she broke his embrace gently giving him a happy smile so he didn't feel rejected. "You're sweet, Harry-chan. But if you do that in public, people will get the wrong idea. Now let's go the young ladies' room and get your uniform, I want to give you some tips before your exam on Hollows tonight."

Harry nodded with a content smile of his own and led her to the women's dormitories, walking brazenly as if it was perfectly allowed for young men in bath robes to walk in there.

Retsu followed, chuckling to herself, happy that even after all his pain and personal conflict he was still the boy she'd saved with a strange knack to amuse her to no end.

00000

The air had that moist quality it gets right before it's going to rain. I could smell the storm. Every now and then wind picked up, ruffling leaves on the lush trees. I breathed in deeply letting out a long sigh of contentment. It earned me a couple of scowls and curses. I simply smiled at their ire. It probably did wonders for the reputation for arrogance I was getting.

To think I'd been at the Academy two days, had hardly spoken to more than a handful of people and already had the bad opinion of the masses. It was almost like being home. I smiled again and chuckled to myself. Cue death glares and cursing.

"Potter," whispered the Shinigami instructor with quiet authority. I subsided, but I couldn't bring myself to feel solemn. It was too beautiful a night.

My written exam had been brutal. One, I had trouble writing with a brush; two, the amount of detail I was expected to know was impossible to learn in two days. Especially when I was fighting Annette's strengths and weaknesses. It was her joy in the night that was affecting me now. The moon was full and it was a night to hunt or stroll in till the day broke.

I don't expect I passed the exam. But I wasn't worried. I knew the basics, and the most important bits. Hollows were creatures who were once human spirits but because of some regret hadn't passed over. As they festered in whatever pain kept them on earth they slowly devolved into monsters who at the last stage of metamorphosis lost their hearts. A literal hollow hole appeared where their hearts used to be. The only other feature all Hollows shared was a bone mask on their faces - I guess the night is full of reminders of home; unfriendly classmates and white masked villains.

Other than that a Hollow could look like anything, have any number of abilities, varied in strengths, and the list goes on. And that's the reason why I most likely failed the written exam on them. But the mask was their vulnerable spot, as long as I remembered that I'd be okay. I hoped.

Retsu had spent what was left of my break in the middle of the day with me. We chatted about simple things to do with school I hadn't experienced yet. It sounded like she wanted me to have a normal life. I couldn't help being amused at her mothering. The woman who'd sent me to District 80, expected me to grow up and be a cold bastard, also wanted me to make friends and play.

I chuckled again to myself. "Okay, anyone who curses me again for having a good time remove the Zanpakutō out of his ass," I said, preempting the dirty looks. "It's a gorgeous, clear night. No point in spoiling it before the fighting starts," I said more softly, peering out from the knoll we stood on to watch over the small village where Hollows were expected to appear.

This time someone else laughed. I turned my head to see the broad shoulders of our instructor shaking a little and realized it was him.

"Aye, it's a beautiful night," he said and turned to give me a smile which said 'you have no idea what you're in for.' I returned the gesture plainly without any subtext.

At Anatoly-sensei's words the others I was with calmed as well. It was dark under the trees and I couldn't see them too well. Although, every now and then one of them would shift from foot to foot and catch the pure moonlight betraying the uniform. If it was red and white I'd know it was a girl, if it was blue and white I'd know it was a boy. They were all my seniors, in their fifth year at the Academy, and all of them seemed to want to prove themselves tonight.

I should have been feeling the same way. Though, I suppose, Retsu would be happy knowing I wasn't antsy. Her not so subtle reason for the visit was to calm me down, give me perspective, and help me not self-destruct. I was still riding on the high of her healing magic. Neither Annette's rage nor her hunger were present. But I had a feeling her strengths were there, otherwise I wouldn't be feeling this sense of sheer fondness toward the night. Maybe it was her abilities because of which I could hear the anxious heartbeats of my classmates, and could tell there were twelve of them, broken up in four teams.

_You are a romantic, little flower. The way you smile so charmingly at the stars and breathe in the coming storm warms my heart,_ said Izanami affectionately. I thought I felt feminine arms wrap around me from behind, but there was nothing there. Izanami's voice came close to my ear, _Don't forget, o' Master of Death, there is nothing more fearsome in the darkness than me. Let me loose tonight, I will lend you my strength. Cherish me when you hold me, and burn in your mind how I move for you. _The sensation of being in her arms disappeared but the sultry words left me hot.

_Yes, o' Goddess of Death, _I said in my heart feeling my serenity give way to excitement.

Ahead the large form of our instructor straightened. In the starlight his blond spiked hair looked white. He alone stood out of the protection of the trees, looking like a well sculpted half giant trying to pick which house to smash through that night. "Protect the villagers from Hollows. Stay in your teams. If any one of you turns coward, I'll be waiting with my axe to take off your head," he said with the quite certitude of a man who was used to carrying out any threat he made.

Like a poorly orchestrated band twelve heartbeats began thumping, trying to outrace each other. Soon I realized my heart was adding to the chorus, except I felt overjoyed, not afraid.

Was this the next test of mastering Annette? I wondered. This euphoria in the moonlight didn't feel like Izanami's blood lust. It felt like the rush of playing tag with cool wind biting on your skin.

Childish joy was probably not the best state of mind to be in when fighting monsters, I reckoned.

"Anatoly-sensei, you haven't assigned him to a team," a girl's voice called out from the darkness. Apparently she'd decided to manage her nerves by nosing in my business.

"And your ability to notice the obvious is why you're one of the best students of your class, Akihisa-chan," Anatoly-sensei said quietly without a hint of sarcasm.

I coughed to cover up my laugh.

"Um, thank you, sensei," said 'Akihisa-chan' unsurely, apparently missing the jibe.

"No, no. Thank you," said Anatoly-sensei. "You've eased my mind about your performance tonight."

I was full out grinning now. "You're a little cruel, sensei."

"Shut up and let me enjoy the night, Potter. And don't worry your senpai, Akihisa," he said in the same quiet manner. 'Senpai' was the honorific I was supposed to use for my seniors at the Academy.

"Yes, be careful, Potter-san," the girl, my senior, said from the shadows. Hell, she even sounded sincere. I guess seeing me get chided by the teacher on her account made her conscious of her duty to her junior.

I was learning these senior to junior and junior to senior relationships were very important at the Academy. To be honest, Rangiku was learning it the hard way and I was learning from her mistakes. So I knew not to be flippant even though the girl was clearly simple. "Thank you, Akihisa-senpai."

There was a cry suddenly in the air from far away and with it my jocular mood disappeared. I felt hunger, need, and black pain from something other than myself. It was like being tuned into Voldemort or sensing what Annette felt. There was something different enough about another's emotions that I could tell they weren't mine, but they still hit me hard.

"They're here!" I hissed, seeing nothing on the horizon. "They are starving and…they're in pain. Something has wounded them already!"

Anatoly-sensei turned to face me fully even as I heard the beating of the hearts surrounding me ratchet up. The echoes of the mourning and rage filled howls of the creatures were crashing into my mind.

"Potter, you can hear them already? Very good," Anatoly-sensei smiled. "I thought I'd have to tell you fools to get your swords out." With that he looked into the copse of trees where every one of us was taking cover.

I heard many swords slide out of their scabbards making that telltale sound of scraping metal. Having fought in the outer districts for so long the sound was as good as a war cry for me. I tensed and tried to focus myself. "Is there another team here? Who attacked them?" I asked the powerful blond man.

The look in his grey eyes as he locked gazes with me was of pity and determination. "They are always in pain, Potter-kun. Haven't you learned why they devour souls? They're trying to literally fill the hole inside themselves. You are Shinigami, it's your duty to free them from their wretched existence."

I shook my head, trying to dispel the noise I felt more than heard.

"To the village! Go, and don't let one of those bastards escape!" Anatoly-sensei shouted his command.

I felt my seniors go past me using supernatural speed, making me feel like I was standing in the middle of a runway while jets rushed past me. I was frozen, the Hollow's hunger and grief was too much. It was a crushing presence.

"Are you a coward, Potter? Go!" Anatoly-sensei shouted. He grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and pushed me so I stumbled down the hillside.

_Death is a mercy, I am salvation. I wonder if you can accept that, you who despise killing, o' Master of Death. I wonder if you can live with yourself if you abandon your duty,_ Izanami whispered in my ear mockingly.

"Duty?" I said, suddenly finding my head clear. "I don't have time for boring things. I'm going to play chase. Let's go Annette!" I shouted to the wind and gathered spirit particles under my feet as I hurtled through the sky.

"Yes, Master," the sweet child vampiress said, smiling and flying next to me. Her blue gown floated behind her like a parachute. She looked adorable with her fangs bared in her dancing smile.

_Children,_ Izanami scoffed.

00000

The Hollow was a giant, a grey giant. It's skin felt rubbery. I could tell because I'd been smacked around by it enough times to become intimate with it. Elongated arms and bent legs supported the weight of its humanoid body. Its white mask was shaped like the skull of a bison. Other than the distinctive mask the rest of its body was an unremarkable mass.

How it could move fast when being a hulk twenty foot tall was beyond me. My Shunpo, the art of moving at supernatural speeds, was not developed enough for this creature. It swung its long heavy arms like they were featherweight blades. Each fist hit like a crashing truck and move swiftly like a whip. It was a bad and scary combination. The wooden houses in the narrow street agreed with me, most having been made topless by the Hollow's mindless attacks.

I'd had enough of trying to take him with my sword. Izanami wasn't helping. She was sulking because I'd ignored her in favor of Annette. And why wouldn't I? I felt happy and didn't want Izanami to spoil my good spirits with her talk of duty to kill.

But some part of my mind reminded me that I was doing badly against the Hollow because I was avoiding the fight. It wasn't smart, I was the only one fighting the deadly thing. Everyone else had two people on back up. I only had me and Annette, who was watching me with a pleased smile sitting on the porch of a smashed house.

The Hollow grew bored of my ruminations while I laid on the dirt road where it had put me with its last punch. It bent down to take a bite out of me.

I decided to get serious. It was annoying.

I could feel the creature's darkness practically coming off in cold waves from it. It was hungry, thirsting to fill its hollow heart. There was only one way out of it. It was to kill it.

Dark creature rights be damned. The reason I'd been resisting so long was because I had a feeling as soon as I killed it the wonderful childish happiness filling me would go away.

The Hollow dropped its bison head opening its maw which was big enough to swallow me whole. I sighed, knowing the end of a good thing when I saw it.

I raised my hands and pointed my index fingers at the yellow eyes set deeply in its skull's sockets. _"Byakurai!" _I screamed.

Sizzling blue-white lightning shot out from my finger tips piercing through the eyes of the grey giant. The two beams blew out the back of the skull and disappeared far out in the sky.

Before the white spots could clear from my eyes the creature was already disappearing. It's great body full of speed and power simply vanished in the wind.

Where it's sorrow and hunger had been choking the atmosphere there was emptiness. It was a sobering feeling.

I was right, I lost my euphoria.

Finally it hit me that I was in a battle. That there was fire crackling in the houses caused by Kidō spells, and battle cries of my seniors in the distance. And that…there weren't any villagers. The fact that I didn't notice that earlier only meant that Annette's night trance had nearly blinded me.

"That was close, Master," Annette said standing with a bowed head next to me.

The dirt road was gouged by troughs where I had been thrown by the Hollow. My body was aching and bleeding. I winced as I moved. I must've remembered to harden my skin with reiatsu if I'd survived. At least some part of me wasn't taken over by Annette. Maybe it was my instinct.

I could hardly remember the deadly fight I'd been in. My head had been full of fake happiness, a sense of invincibility because the sun slept and I could rule under the moon. They were not my emotions or thoughts. They were Annette's. First her hunger and wrath had almost made me eat a Vice Captain, and then her giddiness and childish glee had caused me injury.

"No wonder you died young," I said unkindly.

"I was born before men knew how to write…I was only killed in the 1700s," she said in a small voice, staring at the space in air where a giant Hollow had been.

"How did you survive that long? I mean your _instincts_ are killing me. This hunger, this thirst, anger, and then stupid happiness!" I snapped.

"You are my master. The answer is in me for you to take. You just have to take it." She smiled at me sadly. Then her expression became alarmed. "Hark! One of your companions' heartbeat is becoming faint."

I could hear it too. A stuttering heart above the noise of all the other things I could hear. And somehow just as Annette had said, I knew it was someone from the Academy.

I started running towards the sound. The closer I got the oppressive grief of Hollows weighed on me. I started chanting as I ran, preparing the spell I thought I could use without Izanami's help.

"Twelve smiles of the Stranger, tell twelve lies to this world, stop their blood, liven their bodies, I call thee! Come forth!" I shouted. It was the same spell I had cast for Onabara-sensei two days ago for my final practical test. I'd performed the long ceremony then, so it was easier to cast the spell in the heat of the moment.

Symbols I recognized vaguely made of swirling air appeared wreathed in circles of flame. I didn't know what the symbols meant. I _felt_ what they could do. They could bind, they could destroy, all on my whim. And best of all, they were spells I could hold around myself for a long time. It was simply a matter of will and strength of magic.

I turned a corner to another street, running into it with my arms to the side and hands splayed. I felt invisible strings attached to the twelve fire wreathes to my fingers. Two women and a man were trapped against a wall. One woman was crouched, holding her body tight and bleeding from a wound I couldn't see. It was her slowing heart I'd heard. The other two were breathing hard and standing guard over her but were mostly too exhausted to do anything but defend.

The Hollows attacking them looking nothing like mine. A bat like creature was worrying them from the roof of the house they were trapped against. It swiped its web claws down just as the other one looking like a diseased crocodile with boils and odd bulges attacked them head on. Only thing they had in common with the Hollow I'd killed were holes in their chests and bone masks coverings their faces.

I didn't take too long to be amazed by how different Hollows from each other. _"Destroy!" _ I commanded and felt the spells restrained by my right hand loosen and fly at the bulbous crocodile in looping paths. It didn't see my magic coming.

The crocodile Hollow was lifted off from the ground and thrown in the air by the air elemental magic trapped in the wreathes. Once in the air the fire elemental magic exploded, consuming the Hollow in a fast _fwoom_ of noise. It happened so fast I could hardly believe anything had been there.

Of course, the depressed pressure of the Hollow's hunger and need disappeared with it. Telling me by its absence that something had been there.

The bat creature turned its attention to me. It took off from the roof showing me its hair body. It's screech of rage threw me to my knees. I lost control of the magic in my left hand, but the spells knew what to do. Blades made of air and fire sliced through its wings as it came down to attack me like an eagle.

Suddenly wingless it screamed and plummeted to the ground still on target. I felt a calm settle over me as I timed myself. Pushing back my foot to get in the correct form I reached for my sheathed sword.

Then I leapt in the sky, drawing my blade midair and brought it down on the falling Hollow's head. It bisected the mask and I had the sword sheathed before I landed back on the ground. The Hollow was no more. Only evidence of its presence was that I no longer felt it's maddening agony.

I looked towards my 'companions' as Annette had called them. They had collapsed against the wall, seeing that I'd taken care of the problem. The one with the stuttering heartbeat was nearly faint.

I kneeled in front of her and slipped my hand in her robe to rest it against her side where I could now see the blood coming from. The other man and woman at her sides didn't protest. They were breathing hard and keeping their eyes peeled for Hollows.

I shut my mind off from the battle and began casting the healing magic I knew. Rangiku had fared much worse than the girl in my hands, and I had healed my friend enough times to feel confident I could take care of her.

She sighed and turned her face to me. The moonlight caught her and I looked at a girl my age with short brown hair cut below her ears with small features. She smiled weakly and said, "Thank you, Potter-kun."

I recognized the voice and suddenly felt sorry for laughing at her earlier. "You're welcome Akihisa-senpai."

Then I pulled my hand out of her robes and forced myself to wipe it on my clothes, instead of licking her blood clean from my fingers.

Fuck, I'd rather be high on the night than thirst for blood. I hadn't felt carefree and happy in…maybe years. It was more addictive than any blood lust.

Merlin, Retsu's right, I'm painfully romantic.

* * *

A.N. Hope two quick updates makes up for the month long absence.


	9. Chapter 9

A.N. RL, moving, acute myopia, and separation anxiety from my armadillo kept me from updating sooner. Enjoy.

Thanks to CB and White Rabbit for edits.

**Feminine Wiles **

The taller man bowed to me and raised his Sake to his lips at the same time. "Forgive my sister," he said and then sighed in exasperation.

I tried to clear the frown from my face. "It's alright, she's a friend."

"No, it isn't. I can't believe she tried to make money by selling you to a club." Shiba Kaien brushed a hand through his choppy black hair. Even though it was shorter than his sister's, it still reminded me of her.

I shrugged. "Rangiku's been doing a wild business selling my free nights for dates."

Kaien gave me round eyes of surprise over his Sake saucer and burst out laughing. I scowled and ignored him in favor of watching the denizens of the First District come and go past the small bar.

"You don't have a lot of good luck. Having a friend like that and then getting saddled with someone's insane sister on top of it," Shiba Kaien commiserated and shook his head, amused.

I narrowed my eyes. "Yes, _someone's_ sister."

He raised his hand. "Now, now, you said she was your friend. As her brother and your friend it was my duty to make sure you got along well."

I rolled my eyes heavenward. "You're as insane as your sister, I bet. Aren't you going to take any responsibility for 'saddling' me with her?"

"Nope," he said shortly and took another sip of his Sake. For a slender man his arms were knotted with muscle and he gave off an aura of strength. However, his movements were casual and relaxed and I wondered how he could ever be mistaken for a soldier given his laid back attitude.

"Anyway, I'm going to try out the clubs when I have the time, so she won't get into trouble with other students," I said, wondering how the hell I was going to find the time.

Kaien winked at me across the table and gave me a roguish smile. I bet women fell all over him. I hated him in that instant. "And what about your friend's match making service? Going to go out with all of them too? Not too shabby. Everyone wants to make a man of the Class Zero student."

"Shut up," I growled, watching him laugh at my discomfort. I don't even know the girls Rangiku sold dates with me to. She'll be paying back the money or she can go out with them herself. I'm not a…not a…"

"Whore?" Kaien provided with a raised brow.

"Yes," I bit out, wishing I hadn't stuttered on the word.

"Hmmm, keep an eye on that one. She'll be a beauty some day. Kūkaku hates her guts, so I'm sure she's a lovely person," Kaien said, finally motioning me to drink from my saucer.

I pushed away the Sake. I wasn't in the mood to drink and I hadn't developed a taste for it yet. "I think Kūkaku-san and Rangiku are getting along fine. They were trying to one up each other on who could make more money off of me."

Kaien burst out laughing again. The bastard.

"Come now, this is our celebration over your first Hollow extermination mission. Have at least one drink!" he said loudly. The other customers of the small bar gave us impressed looks. I guess the talk of 'Hollows' got their attention.

"Thanks," I muttered and drank with him. It was nice to be out with someone who wasn't trying to run me into the ground or who didn't know that I was having issues resisting eating people. Kūkaku and Rangiku were great, but their alternating wariness of and amusement at my 'condition' was trying.

"You should meet my girl, Harry-kun. I'm going to marry her some day," Kaien said, getting a little red in the eye; he was getting steadily drunk.

"Okay…that would be nice," I said, a little taken aback by the sudden change of topic.

"Yup, she'll love you and you'll love her. But I warn you, she likes to tease people," he said, giving me an intense look as if he'd dropped words of great wisdom on me.

"Un huh, that's all I need, more people laughing at me," I said, and smiled at the Sake dribbling down the side of Kaien's mouth. He had been drinking for a while, even before I'd joined him at the bar.

"Of coursh, excuse me, of course you do. Kūkaku told me everyone's watching your every step, trying to figure you out, or break you down. You could use a friend who laughs at you, that's what friends do," he said.

I frowned but couldn't help but smile. "I thought friends laughed 'with' you, not 'at' you."

Kaien wagged his slender finger at me. "Only flatterers laugh _with_ you, Harry-kun. And you never know if they are friends or foes," he said seriously.

"Sure, sure," I said, hoping the man would go back to his jolly mood.

Luckily he did just that and I sat absorbing his stories of people in Seireitei I had no idea of. It was first normal thing I had done in a long time. In the dusty and hot bar, watching people go to and fro, and listening to the ramblings of a progressively drunken Shinigami, I realized I had a friend I wouldn't have to protect. It was a nice change from Rangiku or Kūkaku. Of course, I had Retsu, but then, _she_ protects me; not really a friendship of equals there either.

I found myself grinning as I put Kaien's arm over my shoulders to guide him back to his barracks. It was going to be an adventure; I had no idea where I was going and he was too drunk. Luckily I had no desire to eat him.

Gengoro-sensei and I met in his office facing each other over one of those typical Japanese low tables I was beginning to hate with a passion. I had to admit, though, that sitting in the Seiza position was becoming easier as time went by. There was a hushed air of formality in Gengoro-sensei's small office. I kept my silence and waited for him to finish reading the papers on his table. Idle tongues don't lead to idle minds sadly, and I soon had to fight the urge to laugh at how ridiculous Gengoro's huge form looked kneeling in front of a tiny table. I tried to focus on the gaudy golden necklace he wore and wondered if he was secretly vain. I didn't see any other reason to wear something that hideous but obviously expensive.

I heard a scratching sound and looked over my shoulder to see that the black cat I'd seen around the Academy had decided to haunt me again. It was picking at the mats in Gengoro's office. It turned its furry little head to me and pierced me with amber eyes. I accepted the challenge and stared back. Soon I was smiling at myself while holding the cat's gaze.

Now having been around cats from an early age I'm pretty used to their behavior. Even the part kneezles that lived down Privet Drive and were my feline guards didn't quite have the intensity of this black cat. And I knew for a fact that Mrs. Figg's halfbreeds were especially intelligent. The smile slowly fell from my face as my world narrowed to the two amber eyes and the black abyss in their pupils. No, this cat reminded me of the ruby gaze of a tabby that sometimes stared us down from the teacher's table in the Transfiguration classroom.

The thought crossed my mind and as if something unlocked inside I could see a faint blue glow of spiritual energy surrounding the cat. I blinked and the glow was gone.

_Is that an animagus?_ I asked myself feeling a rush of excitement.

_It's certainly not just a ca_t, Izanami's voice answered thoughtfully.

"Here, kitty, kitty," I called with a smile.

The cat yawned and slumped to its side. Alright, message received, you don't want to be petted. Then why are you following me? Who are you? What are you? I asked in my mind.

"Potter-kun, why did you bring your pet into my office," Gengoro-sensei said not looking up from his papers.

"It's not mine. It's been-hey!" I yelped as the cat brushed against my side and crawled into my lap with claws extended. The Shinigami robes weren't thick enough to stop the points from pricking very close to my…sensitive areas. It stretched and settled in my lap. I tried to move it but it dug in with its claws - again, too close to my special place.

I laid a hand on the cat's backs and caressed its shiny coat. It began purring and relaxed enough to detract its claws. Now that I was touching it there was no mistake that it had spiritual power. I don't think it knew that I could tell it had strength only Shinigami were supposed to have.

Gengoro-sensei cleared his throat as he put the papers he was looking at aside. He took off his oval glassed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The big man looked tired. Putting his spectacles back on, he looked at me as if he was assessing me. I had to look up to meet his gaze.

"Anatoly-sensei spoke to us in detail about your performance at the Hollow mission." He quieted as if whatever Anatoly-sensei had said was bad.

"I think I completed the mission, sensei," I said, not in the mood for intimidation games.

"You purified three Hollows, one of which was quite large. It's an understatement to say your results were impressive," Gengoro-sensei said sounding distinctively unimpressed. "Most cadets are taken over by fear or forget their training and simply charge the Hollows." Once again he quieted and stared at me. What did he want me to say?

"I'm from the outlands of Rukongai, sensei. Fearful people don't last there," I said, internally wincing at my bravado. Something about his expressionless disapproval made me want to antagonize him.

"No, they don't," Gengoro-sensei said. "And neither do fools. Which is why Anatoly-sensei and I can't understand why you were playing with the Hollow you engaged first and only killed it when it was almost about to eat you. Anatoly-sensei thinks you were literally playing chase with the Hollow, tagging it with your sword and then letting it tag you back."

I opened and shut my mouth feeling cold ice in my stomach. I didn't know I was seen under the influence of Annette's instincts. "I didn't want to kill it right away," I said, giving a very small part of the truth. Explaining that I didn't want to stop feeling a child's glee and had so had prolonged the fight wouldn't go over well.

"And why is that?" Gengoro-sensei asked. The cat turned up its head to look at my face for the answer too. Gengoro didn't know there was something sentient with us in his room, but I did.

"The Hollow was in pain. I could feel it in the air, it was depressing and cold. It was so hungry and wretched. It seemed cruel to kill it," I said, knowing full well how stupid that explanation was. The real reason was worse, so I settled for what was to come.

"Ah," said Gengoro-sensei and his expression cleared as if I'd finally said something to please him. "Potter-kun, you don't mean that you thought their screams _sounded_ painful, you _felt_ they were?"

"…Yes," I said, realizing too late that I might've betrayed myself in some way.

He nodded and his shoulders relaxed. It seemed he wasn't upset with me anymore. "Anatoly-sensei mentioned that you were affected by the Hollows' presence but it wasn't fear that you felt. Commonly Shingami sense the presence of a Hollow by the pressure of its spiritual strength. It weighs on the Shinigami like something heavy is pressing down on him, and then, of course, it is the Hollow's screams. Most don't take the screams to be of something in pain, however." Gengoro-sensei paused and spoke the next words slowly, "Most feel the howling is of a hunting monster, terrifying its prey."

"Well, there was definitely anger there too. They were hungry, furious, and desperate," I shared, feeling the instructor and I were finally having a real conversation.

He nodded thoughtfully. "All those things are true, Potter-kun. But you must understand that if you don't kill them out of pity you condemn other souls to be devoured by these monsters. If you feel sympathy for them, purify them. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sensei," I said with relief. I didn't have to explain my sword had multiple personalities, each of which was trying to drive me insane.

He smiled then; it was a first. "Anatoly-sensei told me you used the spell you showed me during the test in battle. He said you even incanted the Kidō properly. I'm happy to see you're teachable." He arched a brow on his bald head.

I wasn't amused by the patronizing compliment, but there were codes of conduct that needed to be observed. I bowed deeply and said, "Thank you for your lesson, Gengoro-sensei. I am here to learn." When I looked up the large bald man was smiling.

He sighed deeply and shook his head. "If I had any hair on my head I'm sure I would lose them to teaching you."

I frowned. "I'm not that much trouble, am I, sensei?"

"No, it's not you. It's what's expected of us and you that's the problem, Potter-kun. I hope you understand that you're not allowed to rest and become complacent, and we aren't allowed to forgive you if you make a mistake like other cadets. It goes against my beliefs as a teacher to put one of my students in situations that there is only one outcome: failure."

I felt my respect for him go up, now that I knew why he'd been so strict with me. "The Hollow extermination mission…I was meant to fail it, right?"

Gengoro-sensei nodded. "A cadet with three days of training under his belt should have no hope of facing even the weakest Hollow. Of course, you have had training outside of the Academy. That much is apparent to anyone who has seen your entrance exam and I can tell you already know the name of your Zanpakutō."

"But you still didn't think I'd make it," I pressed.

"No, I believed you would. Maybe bloodied and at the cost of others, but you would've survived. Your fighting style is very destructive. I was more worried for the seniors who you were fighting beside than you." He laughed.

I didn't think it was funny that he thought I was a danger to others but smiled along. "Well, I'm glad I didn't quite meet your expectations."

Gengoro-sensei rubbed his chin and lost his humor. "Potter-kun, I am very pleased. I'm glad the Hollows were a challenge for you and you have the spiritual sensitivity to understand their terrible fate. I've taught too many who have potential like you but no regard for the souls they are meant to serve."

I bowed again. All this bowing was getting me down. Etiquette demanded that I bowed when complimented, unless I was an arrogant prick. "I want to be the best, sensei. I'm used to doing the impossible. So please don't feel bad about whatever they are forcing you to put me through."

"I'll test that spirit, Potter-kun. But first we have to do something about your writing. I couldn't mark your test on Hollows. In a couple of weeks one of my past students Aizen Souske will start calligraphy lessons in the evening. I'm making it mandatory for you and your friend Matsumoto Rangiku to take those," he said handing me the sheaf of papers I'd written out my answers on. It looked horrible to my eyes too.

"Souske? You mean Souske-sensei?" I asked, as I wondered if I was being given a 'break' which I wasn't allowed to get on my written exam.

"Different Souske," Gengoro-sensei explained. "It's a common enough name. Aizen Souske is a fourth seat currently in 7th Division. He has risen high very fast. His skill didn't alienate him from his classmates; you will do well to learn from him."

I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes. Only the soft purring of the cat I was petting in my lap was keeping me from saying something childish. It seemed Annette's wrath was slowly trickling back. So Retsu's spiritual power lasted in me for a little over twenty-four hours; it was good to know. "A fourth seat? I don't really understand rankings within the divisions yet, sensei."

"You will be learning all this in detail. Every officer position under the Vice Captain is numbered. Seat one and two respectively belong to the Captain and Vice Captain, anyone else is ranked three and below," explained Gengoro-sensei.

The cat decided to up and leave at this point. I panicked. I needed to talk to the animagus. It was the first wizard I'd met in the afterlife. I'd been looking for one for almost two years. I was crawling on my hands and knees silently to capture it before it escaped Gengoro's office.

"Potter-kun. I am talking here," the large man's ire was palpable. "Pay attention!"

I snapped back to him and muttered an apology.

He harrumphed. I'd lost the little favor I'd gained with him because I was off chasing a cat. "As I was saying, the captain of the 6th Division wishes to meet with you. You will be going to his office tomorrow first thing in the morning, so you will miss your lessons, which you will make up in the evening."

"I'm already in lessons in the evening. I have three hours of Hakuda training right after Tactics. Why does a captain want to meet me?" I asked distractedly, my mind was still on the cat.

Gengoro-sensei shook his head and stood up, apparently too irritated by my lack of attention. I was rubbernecking while he talked to look for the cat.

"You saved his grandson's life during your entrance exam. He is the head of one of the noblest clans, Potter-kun. Make sure you're not chasing cats when you talk with him. Dismissed," said Gengoro-sensei turning to the books on his shelf.

I was expected to bow as I left his office, but I'd had enough of it for the day, and I had a cat to find.

I ran out of Gengoro-sensei's office and slipped on the hardwood hallway, crashing straight into a wall. Laughter went up around me but I was searching for the black cat and didn't give a damn about looking like a clown. I thought I saw a tail disappearing around one end of the corridor and tore off in its direction. I cursed the meticulously polished wood; my socks had little traction and I kept slipping and sliding.

The cat was gone by the time I turned the corner. I slowed down to peek in open office doors, check out window sills, and other place I could think a cat would be. The cadets in their blue and red uniforms going by gave me amused looks, seeing me hop to see over the edge of the high windows.

I was beginning the get frustrated when I turned into a hallway and found my 'minions' and some girl from Class Three in my year. Tokiwa, my underboss, had his hand planted next to the girl's face on the wall. The girl was trying to be as small as possible, clutching papers to her chest. I didn't like the leer on Tokiwa's face or the way he was running his finger down the brunette's cheek.

"Come on, don't be such a stick in the mud, don't you want to have fun with an experienced man?" Tokiwa's long thin beard wagged as he laughed.

"Tokiwa!" I called, stalking toward him. The man who looked like he was twice my age snapped back from the girl and bowed to me, his two lackeys followed suit. I still hadn't learned their names. "What are you doing?" I stopped a little in front of the girl so Tokiwa had to step back.

"I was just offering to take Ikari-chan for dinner this weekend, Potter-sama," Tokiwa answered still bowing at the waist.

The girl squeaked behind me. I looked over my shoulder to find her squeezing the wad of papers in her arms closer to her chest and looking away. There was no way she was interested in Tokiwa's advances.

"Move on, Tokiwa," I said, not wanting to berate him for being a thug and scaring the girl. He had forced his servitude on me and I felt a little responsible for how I treated him.

"Potter-sama," Tokiwa bowed. "Let's go," he called to his lackeys and they moved off.

"Thank you, Potter-san, I was so afraid," the girl with the long straight hair gave me a short bow.

I shrugged trying to blow it off. "It's alright, he's not a bad guy, just doesn't know how to talk to girls." I wondered why I was defending him, I knew for a fact that he was a 'bad guy.' More of that feeling of responsibility toward my minions, I guess.

"Ikari-chan," a disembodied voice in singsong said. It sounded like a girl deepening her voice to sound like a man. "Would you like to go out with me, the dashing Potter-sama, for dinner this weekend?"

_What?_ I whipped my head left and right to look for the source of the voice.

"Potter-san!" the girl, Ikari, looked up at me with big brown eyes. "Yes, I would like that!" She smiled brightly looking nothing like the scared girl she had a moment ago. She gave a suggestive wink and rushed off.

"What? Hey! Wait! I didn't…oh hell!" I shouted but she wasn't listening. She smiled and waved to me at the end of the hallway and left. I glared around me looking for the voice but didn't find anyone. Although there was a way with Kidō to make oneself invisible it was not an easy spell, and it wasn't nearly as good as an invisibility cloak. I should've seen blurred air or some other sign of someone using magic, but I didn't.

It was time for my Hakuda lessons so I had to abandon my search for the cat. Putting Ikari-chan and my date with her out of my mind I ran out the courtyard to cross over to the two story gymnasium building. In front of the large Academy building it looked like a school trunk, but it was very spacious inside.

My Hakuda lessons were three hours long. I usually started with Class Three and One from my year, and was around when the senior classes arrived for their time too. Everyone else just had an hour. I was getting to know a lot of people by face, even if I didn't talk to them. So it wasn't a surprise when I saw Tokiwa, the minion, a little ahead of me. He had Hakuda lessons at the same time as me.

What I was surprised about was him and his two gangsters standing around the noblewoman I had seen at our entrance exam with the extending staff. Despite losing to Kukaku's maid that day, the noblewoman had made it to Class One. I always wanted to pause in the courtyard and take in the beautiful gardens but, as always, I was rushing from one class to another. I quickened my pace when I heard their raised voices. Tokiwa was having a screaming match with the noblewoman.

He saw me when I got close but then turned his face to the white blond haired woman and raised his hand to strike. I ran ahead and blocked his arm before he could bring it down on her. "What the Hell is wrong with you, Tokiwa?" I shouted in his face.

Tokiwa moved back and spat on the ground. "Her highness thinks we don't belong. Excuse us, Potter-sama." He bowed and stalked off in a cloud of fury to the gymnasium building. I stared after him, confused and a little shaken. If nothing else, Tokiwa's sense of self preservation should've stopped him from hitting a noblewoman.

"Potter-san, I am so glad you came when you did. I don't know what that boor would have done," she said. I'd never learned her name. She didn't seem the friendly type, and she was out of my league otherwise.

"You're welcome. Please don't antagonize him," I said, trying not to be affected by her grateful smile. She was a full head shorter than me, and had delicate features. She had straight bleach blond hair which didn't seem quite right on her pretty Japanese features. Her black eyes assessed me but she didn't answer. She just cleared her throat loudly. I frowned at the odd reaction.

"Tohsaka Yukika-sama, would you do me, the valiant Potter-sama, the honor of escorting you to the peach blossom festival next month?" the same disembodied voice from before called out.

I whipped my head in the direction of it, thinking it was coming from behind a flower hedge next to us. I crept toward it but was held back when the noblewoman pressed her fingers in my arm.

She stood next to me and looked down demurely with a small smile. "Why, you are bold, Potter-san. But you don't have to be so formal. Even though you are nothing but a vagrant from the outer districts your skill and power has made me curious. I'll be pleased to have your company at the peach blossom festival."

"Un huh," I said, blithely ignoring that I'd just landed a date with the woman without even knowing her name. Of course, I had to thank the disembodied voice for that, thank it till it was black and blue in the face. "Look, I need to check out what's happening there." I tried to pull my arm out of her gentle fingers but she ended up grabbing my arm with both her hands.

"Class is about to start, please escort me. I couldn't stand it if those thugs accosted me again," she said pulling me along with her. I couldn't get away and cursed in my head.

She walked like we had all the time to stroll through a park. I supposed nobles have appearances to keep. Her school uniform of red and white robes looked like it was custom made. Even wearing the standard and unremarkable uniform didn't dull her shine. As soon as I got away from her I was going to find the source of the voice.

~0000000000000000000000000000~

I was laying on my back breathing hard and feeling my sweat dry. Three hours, three hours! Of kicking, jumping, punching, grappling, and gut wrenching exercises were not enough to gain Mao Melissa's mercy.

"Oi! If you're done wiping the floor, help me carry the dummies," called the woman I was thinking of.

Mao Melissa was a fifth year student. Her specialty was Hakuda and she often helped out the instructors. She had been assigned as my personal tormenter. She was helping me quickly get over my hesitation about hitting a girl. She arrived for her class in the last hour of my three hour session, and it was sixty minutes of brutality from there on.

It wasn't fair that she was curvy and soft in all the right places so I couldn't keep my head when we were grappling, and that's not even considering the convoluted excuses I came up with not to hit her in the chest.

"Let me be, demon woman," I called but rolled to my feet anyway.

"Did you say something?" she asked sweetly from the other end of the room where she was rolling up the mats.

"I said I was coming!" I yelled back. Melissa looked like she was in her mid twenties. She had her hair cut like a boy but it was a little long in the front. Her most striking features, besides her well endowment, were her purplish eyes. For some reason she reminded me of home. Maybe it was just her western looks, or maybe it was her brash attitude, so different from most Japanese girls I'd met in Seireitei.

"Oi, Harry, if you're rested we can go another round!" she yelled, seeing me shuffle over to her.

My eyes widened. No way was I going 'another round.' She was disgustingly strong; somehow those pliant arms and legs became weapons of steel when they came in contact with me. "I'm here, I'm here. I'll take the dummies."

I grabbed the heavy wooden standing dummies and moved them to the back of the room. I made sure to grunt a lot so she knew I was basically done for.

"So, Melissa-chan, would you like to go to the illegal underground fight club this weekend with me, the valiant Potter-sama?" the fake deep disembodied voice floated into the room.

"God damn it!" I shouted. I looked to the direction of the voice and saw a shadow behind the fusuma walls. "Got you!" I chortled and lunged at the wall.

And then someone yanked me back by the collar and threw me to the ground. Melissa stood above me in her white exercise robes with loose pants. "It isn't polite to ask a girl out and then start running." She bent over me and gave a wolfish grin. "Make sure you save your energy for me. It gets rough on a night out with me."

"Melissa-san, this is a trick, I swear, don't get the wrong idea," I begged raising my hands in a surrender gesture while still on the ground.

Her smile vanished. "You asked me out as a trick?"

My stomach dropped. Shit. "No, I mean, ah, I'll meet you at the courtyard at eight?" My smile was probably a little crazed.

"Oh, the fun doesn't start till ten. Don't be late," she said and stood away from me. She left for the bathhouse with a wave of goodbye behind her. So much for the bowing etiquette.

I didn't waste time and ran out of the practice room. It wasn't too long since I saw the shadow behind the wall. The person probably hadn't gotten far. I ran into the hallway and heard loud thumping of footsteps running away. Giving chase I was forced to run out of the Gymnasium barefoot and in work-out clothes.

Ahead of me someone with a trail of orange-red hair was pelting through the courtyard. Recognition and fury came in the same heartbeat. "Rangiku!" I shouted at my pimp.

Rangiku of the disembodied voice looked back with wide gray eyes, half afraid and half filled with happy mischief. The bitch was enjoying herself. Of course she was. She was looking back at me so she missed the cat in her path.

It hissed at her for stepping on its tail.

"You!" I pointed at the cat. "Come here!"

And just like that I changed my target. Rangiku wasn't going anywhere. I knew where she slept. I didn't have that kind of information on the cat. So I chased it.

…The cat knew Shunpo.

I didn't need any more evidence that the cat wasn't just a cat. Even if it killed me I was going to catch the animagus.

Damn Melissa for exhausting me! The bloody cat was getting away from me.

Shihoin Yoruichi rested on a tree bough. She had never had to run that far or fast in her cat form before. It should have been easy to lose a first year cadet of the Academy; his Shunpo skills were weak from what she remembered of his entrance exam performance. But there he was at the tree line of the great forest exhausted to near death. It had taken him an hour more than her to arrive but he had nonetheless chased her a distance it would have taken normal men a fortnight to cover.

With a weary sigh she swung her long legs over the bough and slumped against the trunk. She couldn't understand why Potter took such an extreme interest in a cat; even if it could use flash-steps. She looked down at his prone form sensing his spiritual power pulsing weakly.

"Serves you right for grabbing at me," she said tartly. "Ah, that's not very princess-like of me." She considered going down to help him but it would be extremely scandalous for the Princess of the Shihoin clan to appear naked before a man. "Nearly dead man," the princess corrected herself.

The moonlight made his already fair skin look paler. His chest rose and fell with labored breathing, highlighting his sternum and ribs. He looked pitiable to Shihoin Yoruichi and, despite her concern over the propriety of a princess, she decided to go to him. In a smooth motion that belied any fatigue she'd been experiencing, Yoruichi jumped off the bough to land quietly thirty feet to the ground. But before she could break the tree line she felt another reiatsu quickly approaching.

She melted back into the shadows of the trees and saw a man in the clothing of the Secret Corps appear close to where Potter was lying. It seemed the arrival was just a coincidence because the man was wounded and hardly able to stand. His right leg below the knee was ruined and it was easy to see the wet spots of expanding blood on his clothing in the moonlight. Yoruichi was surprised to see one of her own soldiers and wondered what he was doing there.

"You! Identify yourself!" the man shouted to Potter, who had raised himself on his elbows.

"I'm Potter Harry, first year cadet at the Spiritual Arts Academy," he said getting to his feet shakily.

The Secret Corps soldier swooned and threw out one hand to steady himself against a tree. He kept his sword pointed at Potter. "This forest is forbidden to outsiders. The penalty is death. What is a schoolboy doing here?" He asked and Yoruichi could tell the man was barely keeping from revealing how much pain he was in. His words had given her some hope; if the forest he was speaking of was the one she thought he meant, there was help nearby. In her flight from Potter she hadn't truly focused on where she was running to, and it had been many years since she'd seen the place where she now found herself.

"I lost my cat," Potter answered. "Look, I didn't know the forest was forbidden." He chuckled. "I'm not here to hurt anyone, you probably can't tell since you're wounded but my spiritual strength is very weak right now. I couldn't hurt anyone even if I wanted to."

The soldier pushed off the tree trunk, his mask revealing nothing of his pain, but his trembling body betrayed him anyway. The sword in his hand shook but it remained pointed at Potter. He hopped and dragged himself toward Potter. "The penalty," he breathed in short bursts, "is death."

Potter back stepped slowly, "Are you seriously going to try to kill me in your state?"

"The penalty…" the soldier didn't finish his sentence, but unexpectedly flash stepped off his one good leg with his sword aiming to decapitate Potter.

Yoruichi's eyes widened at the desperate attack and she was shocked even more so when Potter disappeared from the path. She felt a spike of reiatsu and saw Potter appear behind her soldier. The first year cadet seemed to hesitate but then tackled the soldier. The soldier went down with a scream, all his weight falling on his wounded leg, just as Potter had planned it. Yoruichi was taken aback; even though their limbs were too tired and their minds too worn to fight well, they still attacked with pathetic desperation and, yet…_none_ of the viciousness of battle was absent. She had been raised in the secret corps, where executions were handled from the shadows; battles were lightning quick, and fought from a place of overwhelming advantage and power. This was the first time she had seen the killing dance of the weakened and it was ugly.

Their fingers twisted in each other's flesh, teeth found purchase where they could. Yoruichi watched in morbid fascination, wondering who would give up first. Knowing her soldiers' training, she bet on her man. But somewhere in the grappling Potter got behind her man's back and choked him, while suffering the Secret Corps agent's elbows in his ribs.

She was about to step out to put it to a stop when suddenly Potter let go of the man and rolled away from him. He crawled to the sword and left the man hacking and coughing. With the sword firmly in his grasp he turned toward the soldier and sat on his knees. "Enough. I could've killed you, but I didn't. Stop trying to kill me. You owe me a life debt."

Blood spilled from the soldier's mouth. "I'm not a traitor. Kill me and be done with it."

Yoruichi watched Potter shake his head in disgust and throw the sword away. "I'm not asking you to betray anyone. I'm going to heal you, the best I can…though that damn cat took most of my energy."

"Don't touch me," the soldier warned, but it was too late. Potter had already torn his sleeve to tie off the man's leg, stemming the blood flow. Ignoring the scream of pain, Potter went on and placed his palms on the man's chest. Yoruichi saw green glow cover the cadet's hands and arms. She also felt his reiatsu and was surprised when she felt it had a calming effect. There was only one amongst the Thirteen Courts whose reiatsu felt anything other than aggressive; the Captain of the Healing Division, Unohana Retsu.

She transformed back into her cat form to see what unfolded between her soldier and Potter.

~000000000000000000000000000~

Any other time she would have been irritated with their slow pace, but after the long chase the speed was just about comfortable for her. She stayed in the brush watching Potter and the man she now recognized to be from the Fong clan lean on each other and make their way into the forest. The Fong clan was in service to her family and had long served faithfully in the Secret Corps. The forest was their secret living and training grounds, no one outside the Fong clan or the heads of the Shihoin family were even aware of its existence. She had been a very young child last time she'd been in the Fong forest.

It was not long before others dressed in full black uniform of the Secret Corps appeared out of the woods. They took their own and surrounded Harry, marching him to their manor. Yoruichi approved that the man had stopped his clan from executing Potter, confessing that he owed his life to the boy. If he hadn't she would have had to protect Potter and shame the Fong clan for acting dishonorably.

The manor looked like it had simply grown out of the ground like the trees of the forest. The roofs were covered with leafy branches and the wood constructing the structures still had bark on them. Two lamps hung in the porch, showing outlines of a number of soldiers standing silently. Yoruichi's cat vision revealed to her many more that were using the darkness and foliage to hide their presence. It would be suicide to infiltrate or attack the Fong stronghold, she thought.

The injured soldier was treated like nobility so Yoruichi knew he must be a Fong himself and not simply one of their retainers from minor clans. The outside guards flanked Potter as he was led into the manor. Yoruichi ran around to where she recalled the living quarters for the retainers were. Soon she found clothes lines with the anonymously all black uniforms of the Secret Corps. She changed to her human form and fit herself as best as she could in nearly dry clothing. She knew her distinctive purple hair was hard to hide so she found a larger man's head band. She didn't want to reveal herself unless it was absolutely necessary. She took the servant entrance into the manor, moving faster than sight could see. The kitchens were empty; apparently everyone had headed to the meeting room. The concentration of spiritual power would have guided Yoruichi even if she didn't remember that the meeting room was roughly in the middle of the manor.

She slowed down as she reached the hall with the entrance to the room. The door had two guards but they were both facing in instead of out. The Fong clan obviously thought it had captured any intruders and relaxed their guard. Yoruichi wasn't amused, it was criminally lax and unlike the clan. But she recalled that lately the Fong clan hadn't produced the kind of soldiers they were esteemed for. Two of the elder sons of the clan had died on their maiden missions having failed them. Perhaps some weakness had taken root in the clan.

Yoruichi went to stand in the frame of the door and was disgusted to find that not one was facing the entrance, but all were looking to wizened head of the Fong clan. Immediately the eyes of the old woman sitting on a raised platform found her. The command to capture Yoruichi was on her lips when Yoruichi pulled the veil off her face and made a hand signal that she knew the Fong would understand. The old woman gave the slightest bow but made no other indication that would betray Yoruichi's presence to the rest gathered there. Yoruichi flash stepped into the corner of the room not yet occupied. She did so quietly that no one noticed a stranger was amongst them.

The old woman's sharp eyes looked away from the princess to the prisoner on his knees in front of her and her great grandson. The latter was being treated for his wounds right in the middle of the gathering. Old age had shriveled her body so she looked like a child with soft white hair free of a braid. However, there was still a hardness to the way she held herself that refuted any impression that she was a kindly old woman.

"Why hasn't he been executed?" she demanded of the guards standing over Potter. The boy had his hands resting casually in his lap and he looked up from half lidded eyes at the Fong head, as if she was disturbing his meditation. Yoruichi hoped Potter knew he was disrespecting the woman not known for her mercy, but she also hoped the clan head could see Potter was using all his strength to simply remain conscious.

"Master Fong stopped us. He says this intruder is owed a debt of life," one of the guards spoke.

"He was wounded, I helped him get home. I think that deserves thanks by way of letting me go. Look, I was just running after my cat and it led me here," Potter said. Yoruichi winced at his lack of tact.

"He allowed an intruder to see our home, that makes his life forfeit," the old woman snapped.

"Sensei," the wounded Fong man said from the ground. "I was wounded when I ran into him, I tried to kill him, but he got the upper hand. He let me go and healed me so I could return home."

"Be silent!" The tremble of old age in her voice was made worse by her fury. The skin of her jowls shook with her voice. "You failed to protect our home and disgraced yourself. You should have died with honor."

"Had I died, grandmother, I would never have been able to bring news of my mission," the Fong man spoke through his pain and it showed in the tightness of his voice.

A woman healing him stood and bowed suddenly, interrupting the proceedings. "Forgive me, mistress, but we have to take Master Fong…his leg…we have to amputate it." A ripple went through the gathered, faces turned away from the center of the room where the man lay, there were quiet sighs of regret. Yoruichi shut her eyes for a moment in sadness for the man. The loss of limb was a terrible thing for anyone, but for the clans who had dedicated themselves to the Secret Corps for generations death was more welcome than the loss of ability to serve.

The old woman looked like she had swallowed something disgusting. "Tell me at least the news of your mission."

There was a long silence before the wounded man spoke. "Please inform my lord Shihoin that my team failed. The enemy was prepared for us. They knew how many of were coming and what our mission was." Tension in the room rose. Yoruichi was little aware of this, his words had sent a chill of anger through her. "We were betrayed, grandmother, there is a traitor in the Secret Corps."

"You dare make excuses for your failure?" the old woman's whisper in the silent room was loud as a bell. She echoed the anger in Yoruichi's heart.

The wounded man's voice was that of defeat, "I do not make excuses, I merely wish that my words reach our lord. For even though I will now die by clan law, there will be others who will die because of the betrayal of someone in our midst."

The old woman raised her eyes so she was no longer looking at her great grandson. Instead her eyes focused on the corner of the room Yoruichi sat in. "Indeed, for the disgrace you have brought on the Fong clan by your failure to complete your mission, for your failure to execute an intruder, and for bringing the intruder into our lands, you deserve nothing less than death three times."

"Wait!" Potter shouted. "Look, I didn't save his life just so you could go ahead and off him. He had important information, can't you see that. If you have a traitor more of you will die. More of you will fail and fall on your own cursed swords because of your damned code. Your enemy is winning." He had stood in the middle of his tirade and been forced down to his knees by the guards, but his voice had not lost its strength.

"Dare not speak to me without my leave in my home," the old woman said. At her words the guards gagged Potter.

Yoruichi made another hand signal to the clan head. Potter's words had cooled her anger at the Fong man. There had been an unusual amount of failures in the missions lately. She wanted to speak to the clan head alone before she gave her judgment. At any rate she had to stop the woman from killing Potter; something the clan head was fully in her right to do so.

"Everyone, stay inside. I need to think over the fate of these two," the old woman said, coming down from the raised platform.

"Mistress, his leg…we must," the healer from before spoke up, no doubt afraid of the old woman's ire.

"Do what needs to be done, take him away." She turned to Yoruichi's corner. "You, come with me and be quick about it."

Taking the hint Yoruichi flash-stepped out the door ahead of the clan head, giving little time to the rest to realize she wasn't one of them. She went around the building to the square clearing for training. Tall trees that looked black at night boxed in the clearing, it made Yoruichi feel like she was standing at the bottom of well.

She was gazing at the stars when the Fong head arrived, walking slowly due to her age. Yoruichi took off her veil and head band. The Fong head went down on her knees with one fist planted in the earth in front of her in the style of the Special Forces.

In other circumstances Yoruichi would have commanded the woman to stand in respect for her age and service, but that night she wanted their respective positions understood perfectly. "The clan Fong is not what it used to be, Soi Fon," said the princess using the old woman's service code name.

"It has been a long time since I was called that name, my lady Yoruichi," said the old woman. Her fist trembled, she was having difficulty bowing.

"Do you not feel worthy of that name anymore? Tell me, why do the Fong fail the Shihoin clan?" asked the princess while pacing.

The old woman bowed lower, her thinning hair fell into her face exposing the liver spotted skin of her scalp to the princess. "I have failed you three times, my lady, I offer you my neck."

Yoruichi scoffed and took pity on the woman. "Stand, Soi Fon. If offering me heads was the way to please me I would be happy having the deaths of two of your great grandsons and now the leg of the last. Why do yours fail me, Soi Fon?"

The old woman held her head high and looked into Yoruichi's eyes. "I am a poor teacher, my lady. I could kill with the beauty of the wind, but I could not teach mine to learn my skill."

"The name Soi Fon is still honored by the Shihoin clan, it will not be forgotten. I know full well what you are capable of. Do not presume to fool me by assuming the responsibility for their failures. They were weak and unworthy," snapped Yoruichi. She would have been much kinder to the Fong head, but she needed the powerful woman cowed.

"It is as you say, my lady," said the old woman.

Yoruichi folded her arms and looked down at the shorter woman. "Tell me, Soi Fon. Is this the end of the Fong clan, or is there someone left who carries your name and can bring honor to your house?"

The old woman scoffed but her black eyes danced. "A young girl, my great granddaughter, named Shaolin. Her father brought her up to love you. She is strong and works harder than any other."

Yoruichi smiled. "Instead of your head I will have Shaolin. Teach her well enough to be worthy of your name, Soi Fon."

The old woman bowed. "My lady, I have failed you far too many times for you to be so lenient to me."

Yoruichi frowned feeling fury bubble inside her. "It's not for the Fong clan to decide when they can leave our service, Soi Fon. If you have put your life in my hands, it's mine to extinguish or extend as I wish. You have failed me three times, you owe me three warriors of your caliber. One will be Shaolin, the second will be that boy who saved your great grandson's life, and third I will ask for in the future."

"My lady? The boy? He's an intruder, we don't know what he was after…unless…" The old woman smiled. "Princess Shihoin, were you the cat he chased here?"

The princess smiled showing her canines and cocked her head to the side. "He followed me here all the way from Seireitei. I was testing him but I never expected him to reach your home, Soi Fon."

The old woman cackled. "Does he know the truth of who the cat is, my lady?"

Yoruichi shook her head. "He does not and will not. Train him, Soi Fon, he will bring honor to your family. Shaolin has lost all her brothers, she could use one who doesn't know the meaning of giving up."

The old woman bowed deeply. "The Fong will be honored to train one you have faith in, Princess Yoruichi."

"And, Soi Fon, find out as much as you can about this traitor your son is speaking of. Pass your judgment quickly, that boy has to get back to Seireitei by morning." Yoruichi hid her hair and face again. The woman bowed to her and made her way back to the meeting room.

Back inside Yoruichi found that Potter was still on his knees, with swords at his neck, and his mouth gagged. The injured soldier hadn't been moved, but from the smell of blood and alcohol in the room, Yoruichi guessed he'd been operated right there. The old woman looked dispassionately at him before motioning to the guards. One of them removed the gag from Potter's mouth.

"It's been revealed to me that the stranger was not here to infiltrate us. He is free to leave. But the law of the clan has been broken, one of us has failed to protect our secret home, therefore my great grandson will be executed as soon as he is well," said the old woman.

"Wait…you said I was here by accident. You don't have to kill him then," said Potter, standing up weakly. No one else protested; they accepted the harsh command, Yoruichi knew this was the way of the Fong.

The old woman smiled mirthlessly. "One who is not of us now knows our secret, boy. So the one who betrayed the secret must die. Unless you were to beg to become my disciple and I accepted you…you would remain an outsider, and the law would take the path it always has."

Yoruichi stifled a laugh. She smiled at the old crone from the shadows. This woman was none other than the vicious and cold Soi Fon.

"So if I leave…he dies," Potter asked as if the woman was mad.

"No, he dies for his actions, not because you are leaving," said the Fong head.

"But you just said if I became your disciple-" Potter was interrupted.

"And if I were a younger woman, I might have considered a boy who chases cats as many leagues as you have for acceptance in my clan. There are so many ifs in this world, boy." The old woman shrugged and smiled.

From her angle Yoruichi could see the look of disgust on Potter's face. "You know how far I followed that cat?"

"Of course, it's my cat, after all," the woman said with slight anger.

Potter blanked his face of expression. "Can I see it?"

"It comes and goes as it likes," she said.

"Do you know what that cat is?" pressed Potter.

"Of course, it's a cat," said the old woman. Yoruichi dug her nails in her arm to keep herself from laughing. She wished she could have shared the moment with her friend Kūkaku, she would have loved seeing Potter's ears turn red from anger.

No one interrupted the silence that followed. The others were looking at Potter, trying to figure out what was happening between him and their mistress. "_If_ I was to become one of you, would I see your cat again?" asked Potter. Yoruichi was amazed at his obsession with her.

"And you would save Master Fong's life, he would not be executed," the healer woman from before spoke up in a breathy hopeful voice.

"If you are very, very good, the cat guardian will reveal itself," said the old woman seriously. There was an excited murmur in the gathering.

Potter sighed. He bowed in the manner of the Secret Corps, with one fist planted on the ground in front of him. "I need a teacher. Will you take me as your disciple?"

The woman laughed. "And why should I? Are you worthy?"

"How can I prove my worth?" asked Potter, remaining in his bowed position.

"Bring him water," said the old woman. At once the healer woman ran to a corner of the room and ladled out water from a large jar. Potter took it from her and drank it down greedily. "Now, boy, return back to where you came from. If you have the strength and perseverance to reach Seireitei before sunrise, I will accept you."

"That's impossible…" someone said in the gathering, and there were murmurs of agreement.

Potter stood. "How will you know I've made it?"

Yoruichi spoke from her corner, keeping her face low so no one could see her eyes. "We are Onmitsukidō, we will know." She flash-stepped out before the others of the Fong clan could finish turning toward her and realize that they had an intruder amongst them. No one followed her so she presumed Soi Fon had stopped them.

She waited till Potter appeared out of the building, planning on following him back to Seireitei. To her surprise she lost him as soon as he entered the woods, she couldn't even sense his reiatsu. It was as if he had completely disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

A.N. I'm back after many months of harrowing academic and real life responsibilities. I had this new chapter written in snippets and didn't realize it was already a full chapter length, so here you go and Happy Holidays!

For any one looking for a great collection of fanfiction, subscribe to this C2:

www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/community/DLP_5_Starred_and_Featured_Authors/84507/ You can also find the direct link on my profile if that's easier.

Thanks to CB and Warlocke for edits.

**After the Fong**

Kūkaku shoved my shoulder to wake me up. I mumbled something that I hoped would stop the irritating harlot. She didn't stop so I opened one eye to shoot her a loathsome look. I was surprised to find her lips in a straight line of worry.

"What's wrong?" I asked and raised myself off the floor of her room.

"That's my line," she said humorlessly. "We woke up to find you bloody. You scared the hell out of us. Rangiku took your clothes to the wash."

"It's not my blood," I said. I leaned against her bed and rubbed the grogginess out of my eyes. I was once again mostly naked under a sheet. I didn't understand why the women in my afterlife felt no problems taking off my clothes while I slept. Did they think a sheet made up for a shirt and a pair of pants?

"Yes, we figured out it wasn't your blood, Harry-kun. But next time you decide to look like someone slew you and threw you in our room…think about it again," she said and stood up with a sigh. Her hands were trembling a little. I guess I'd given the girls a bad scare. "I have a clean uniform for you. Please change into it. We have to hurry to make it to the 6th Division in time."

I caught her hand as she stepped over my splayed out legs to get my clothes. She was wearing her crisp red and white cadet uniform and, surprisingly, even her choppy hair was styled back to look presentable. "Kūkaku-san, I'm sorry I frightened you. You won't believe what happened last night. I barely made it back."

She nodded and squeezed my hand in return. "Harry-kun…I was worried. I thought your Zanpakutō forced you to…hurt someone when I saw you this morning, but you wouldn't be acting so calmly if that happened, right?" she asked as if it weren't a rhetorical question.

"No, Kūkaku, I would've lost my mind. This has nothing to do with my Zanpakutō spirit." I met her eyes steadily hoping she believed me. The instant relief on her face told me I'd won her confidence. I breathed and let her hand go, shutting my eyes to hold on to the last of the lingering need for sleep. I was exhausted beyond belief. I felt a punch on my head and scowled up at the girl who was wearing a much more familiar expression of smugness. "What the hell?"

"Wake up. You need to bathe and I need breakfast. I'm taking you to 6th Division since you don't know the way," she said, throwing my nicely pressed uniform to me.

"6th Division?" My voice was a little muffled, seeing as my face was under the voluminous robes she'd chucked at me.

"You're meeting Captain Kuchiki of the 6th Division. You saved his grandson's life, remember?" she said, nudging me with her foot when I was a little lazy in getting off the floor.

"Right, forgot about that. I'm glad you're coming," I said, remembering some thoughts I'd had the last night on my way back from the Fong encounter.

"Oh? Why? Eww, cover yourself, I can see your butt!"

"Then don't bloody take my clothes off when I'm sleeping!" I snapped back, feeling heat rise in my face. "You're part of these noble families, right?" I asked. Kūkaku nodded in answer. "I want to ask you what other the noble families want from me. I know your brother wants me to watch out for you and, while I don't know if he did that just to annoy you or he really thinks you need a friend, at least his motivation is clear. I want you to help me figure out what these other bastards want." I didn't realize how angry I'd gotten towards the end.

"What made you wake up and notice?" she asked sarcastically. "Was it all the noble girls you're taking out?"

I looked askance at her, as far as I knew there was only one noblewoman on the list. "I'll tell you on the way, but I'm not walking into another meeting with a noble without a clue of what's going on." I tied the wide pants and robes as Rangiku had shown me and was ready to leave the room for the bath.

Kūkaku was frowning. "You didn't fight a noble last night did you?"

I nodded and she cursed. I tried to explain, "I also healed him and helped him home. That's where a lot of strange things happened, and that's why I need your help."

"You're telling _me_ before Matsumoto-san?" she asked. "The way you never answer my questions, I thought you didn't trust me."

It was true, I never really told her much about what was happening with me, despite the times she'd seen me get taken over by Annette's powers. I thought Rangiku had been smoothing those moments over for me. I walked over to her and held her shoulders. "You've helped me control my Zanpakutō. You've stopped me from doing something that I could never come back from. I trust you."

She blushed and I was taken aback how soft it made her usually irreverent features look. She shrugged off my hold and changed the subject, "Harry-kun, who did you meet last night?"

I stepped back from her and watched her expression carefully. "The Fong clan."

Her jaw dropped and her dark eyebrows rose, she shook her head in disbelief and then started laughing. "Shit," she cursed with feeling. "Let's go, you better tell me everything. Unless you've sworn not to say something. They take that very seriously."

"Yeah, got the feeling they take everything murderously seriously." I followed her out of the room, planning in my mind to talk to Retsu, as well, about the Fong. The old woman had gone from wanting to kill me to recruiting me within minutes. I despise being manipulated and I felt exactly like I was dancing to someone else's tune.

0000000000000000000

The mess hall was empty when Kūkaku and I arrived. Anyone who cared to have breakfast had already come and gone. I was happy for the relative privacy; I intended to eat a horse and didn't want anyone to ask questions why. Unfortunately the past night's ordeals had left me too weak to handle the food. I ate slowly and chewed long, feeling small lances of pain run down my jaw to my chest. It wasn't the first time I'd been beaten to exhaustion of my spiritual power, but it was the first time I was that bad off without Retsu there to help me.

Kūkaku shot me worried glances and gradually her admonishments to eat faster because we would be late to see Kuchiki Ginrei petered out. "Harry-san, what happened to you?" she whispered. The fact she was using a respectful honorific for me only emphasized how worried she was. "Should we go to the healing division first?"

I shook my head no. "I've been seeing something suspicious for some days. I tailed it to a place very far from here…honestly I don't even know if I could really find it again," I said telling a half-truth; I couldn't find it the mundane way but I could apparate there just fine. "It tired me out, that's all."

"Harry-san, Rangiku told me you were after a cat…" Kūkaku trailed off, leaving the question unasked.

I chewed and mulled over what I was going to say. Could I trust her with the secret of the animagus I'd found? Was it prudent? What if the wizards and witches in the afterlife hid themselves just like they did in the living world? I raised my eyes off my food to look at her and answer but stopped seeing the pensive expression on her face.

"What does the cat look like?" she asked.

"It's black, very big amber eyes." I stopped myself from saying 'and it knows flash steps technique' because a look of recognition crossed Kūkaku's face which she tried to hide in the next moment by breaking eye contact with me.

"That doesn't sound very special. Why were you chasing the cat, Harry-san?" Kūkaku asked quietly. Some of her natural exuberance had left her and even her reiatsu felt disturbed. I was taken aback, realizing that I was so attuned to her reiryoku that I could actually sense when it was affected by her emotions.

She obviously knew something about the cat, so I decided to throw caution to the wind. "The cat has spiritual power and its flash steps technique, Shunpo, was at least ten times faster than mine."

Kūkaku nodded at my answer and gulped. "Harry-san, you said you trusted me…if you've done something terrible, will you tell me?" she asked still not looking at me.

I stared at her and started chuckling; my chest hurt but I couldn't stop myself from the laughter growing. "What, exactly, is something terrible, Kūkaku?" I slapped the chopsticks in my hand on the low table. "Because so far everything I would think is wrong seems to be just right in Soul Society. Murderous sprees?" I arched my brows in mock question. "They make you a man. Executing your grandson? Well that's just honorable." I scoffed in disgust and went back to my meal.

A silence stretched between us in which she didn't so much as breathe loud enough to be heard. My anger waned to embarrassment at losing my temper. I was about to apologize when I heard Kūkaku wet her lips. She leaned over the table and whispered in my ear, "The Fong clan are assassins…they are sent for traitors." She sat back and hung her head.

I frowned but at least understood in part what had worried her. "That's not it. I ran into them while chasing the cat. They didn't come for me."

Kūkaku shook her head. "What if it wasn't a chance meeting, Harry-kun, what if you were led there? Please, tell me, did you do something that would make you look like you've betrayed Soul Society?" she demanded, her eyes locked with mine, and her fingers biting into the lip of the table.

I didn't say anything for a long moment while I considered her questions. Despite Retsu's admonishment not to feel guilty for what I'd done in the far reaches of Soul Society I wasn't fully convinced that I was in the clear. But it was Kūkaku's second question that made me feel a chill down my spine. Did the cat deliberately take me to the Fong Clan's hidden lair? What about all the cat references the Fong head made? "Kūkaku-san," I said. "You know about the cat. Who…what is it?" I asked. "You have to tell me because I think it had something to do with the Fong forcing me to become a disciple."

"What?" Kūkaku shouted then ducked realizing that the cooks were looking at her in surprise. "What?" she whispered. I just shrugged in answer. She ran a hand through her atypically well groomed hair, messing it up again. "I'm so confused," she admitted.

I laughed. "And I thought you'd know what was going on since you're a noble." I gave her another moment to get cozy with her bewilderment then sprung the question on her again. "Who is the cat, Kūkaku, I know you know it."

It was odd to see the brazen girl nervous. She picked at her robes and her gaze jumped from place to place, never resting on me. "I…you said you trust me, Harry-kun. So please, don't ask me."

Anger bubbled inside me and I almost lunged for her. How could she keep it from me? It was the first wizard or witch I'd seen in years and I needed to find out where my people were and what had happened to me. "What if it leads me to an execution again?" I asked, hoping to play on her feelings of friendship for me.

She rolled her eyes and laughed ruefully. "Trust me, Harry-kun, if the cat wanted you dead, you would be dead. Something else is going on."

"That's it? That's all the help you can give me? I need to know who it is and what it wants from me!" I got in her face.

She raised her hands in surrender and warily put them on my shoulders, patting me there to supposedly calm me down. Luckily for her I couldn't take the apprehension in her eyes and pulled back. "Keep a bottle of milk with you, Harry-kun. Next time you see her give her the milk. Oh! And it likes it chilled."

I frowned at her. "So you want me to lure the cat, which can wish me dead if it wants to, with cold milk."

Kūkaku nodded and grinned. "Don't tell it I told you how to get it. She'll kill me."

"You know, I'm beginning to think homicidal mania is everyone's natural state of mind in Soul Society." I sighed. "So please tell me you know what Kuchiki Ginrei wants with me. He's one of the high noble family heads, right?"

Kūkaku hummed in agreement. "The Kuchiki are like my family, one of the four highest noble houses in Soul Society. They are very proud and strict. _Most_ would feel honored to be in the very presence of Captain Kuchiki." She shot me a look.

"You don't think I feel honored." I smirked.

"You're not easily impressed, Harry-kun. That's why so many in Class One don't like you. You walk around like the others don't matter," she said.

"I just don't care, Kūkaku-chan. I don't have time to think of strangers. I don't even know who the noble girls are that you think are trying to get dates with me." I pushed away the food, feeling another bite would make me hurl.

Kūkaku chuckled. "That's exactly it, Harry-kun. They expect you to know them, know that their place is higher than yours, but you always meet their eyes, call them by their names politely but not with reverence that someone from the outreaches of Rukongai should."

"You don't seem to care," I said. "Anyway, they don't matter. Tell me more about Kuchiki, what could he want? Does he expect me to go on my knees in front of him to show respect or what?"

Kūkaku made a disgusted sound. "You saved his idiotic, arrogant, insufferable grandson. He is indebted to you. He will reward you in some way. Just be respectful to him, Harry-kun. Captain Kuchiki is a very powerful and wise man. Their family is renowned for protecting the laws of Soul Society and as guardians of its history."

"What do you mean by 'guardians of its history?'"

"Their family has the greatest historical archives. They are sworn to keep records of everything, even things people would rather forget. My brother says that even the government's secret archives are not as complete as the Kuchiki libraries," she explained.

I stood up following Kūkaku's lead as we got ready to leave for the Sixth Division which had Captain Kuchiki at its head. It looked to me that being in the man's good books would be useful. If my goal were to escape back home and figure out what brought me here in the first place, there might be information in his library.

000000000000

From the outside the Sixth Division didn't look very different from any other place in Seireitei. White washed walls guarded what was inside. Several members of the division stood outside the gates, dressed in the standard uniform of full Shinigami. Unlike soldiers of other divisions they didn't seem to have personalized their uniforms in any way. While the streets were usually lively with the voices of Shinigami going back and forth on their work, the space around the Sixth Division seemed to be very deliberately quiet.

Kūkaku walked confidently up to the guards and did not bow as would be customary for a Shinigami cadet. "Please let Captain Kuchiki know that Shiba Kūkaku has arrived with Potter Harry."

The tall guards' eyes went to the scarf tied around Kūkaku's arm which bore the seal of her family and they both bowed deeply at the waist. Addressing her with great reverence they led us inside. One of them stood with us offering refreshments while the other took off at a jog to inform his captain of our arrival. Seeing the soldiers trip over themselves around a teenage noble girl made me understand what kind of 'respect' the nobles expected from everyone else. I hadn't ever seen Kūkaku use her family name for advantage before but I was still impressed by the power of the Shiba family name. I just hoped that Captain Kuchiki didn't expect me to act so servile. It just wasn't in me.

Inside the plain white walls the scene was very different. A lush garden surrounded the main building with the path to it shadowed by the leaves of trees laden with fragrant flowers. The stone path led behind the building where larger structures stood. I expect that's where the barracks and training areas were but the vegetation hid the extent of the Sixth Division's grounds. It provided a lot of places to hide, I could easily see places ideal for an ambush - perhaps the gardens were there not just for beauty but security. It would take an army just to maintain the land. I had only seen the grounds of one other division, Kaien's, and although it was at night it didn't seem nearly as grand as the Sixth Division.

"Shiba-sama." A guard bowed to Kūkaku where she sat on a stone bench. "The captain will see you in an hour. He has asked to me offer you to join the midmorning training while you wait. That is, if you would like to make up for the classes you are missing at the Academy because of his invitation. "

I saw Kūkaku's eyes twitch a little; she didn't seem to like the idea, but instead of being her usual mocking self she accepted the invitation graciously. We were led past the building housing the offices of the captain and down the trail that I'd thought of as ripe for an ambush. I was walking behind Kūkaku so it was easy for me to bump into her and surreptitiously grab her hand to place it on her sword. She was smart enough not to let on what I'd done but she turned to me and said, "Isn't this a beautiful place, Potter-san?" The smile on her face didn't reach her eyes and she shook her head slightly, warning me off from doing something stupid. I couldn't stop myself from being wary. Kūkaku hadn't led the life Rangiku and I had, she didn't understand that being prepared for the worst was the only way to survive. I tightened my grip on Izanami and readied myself to draw her the moment something went wrong.

We walked under the fragrant boughs covering the narrow path in silence until it suddenly opened on to a wide swath of ground. I relaxed a little, seeing that nothing was waiting for us around the corner. It looked like any other training ground. Men and women stood in rows, following Hakuda patterns. A shallow pit at one end had swordsmen with wooden swords, practicing. Far from the others, a large thick wall rose out of the ground creating an odd feature on the landscape; there, a much smaller group was practicing Kidō. Ringing the training field were tall trees, which mostly hid the buildings beyond, preventing me from getting a full sense of how large the Sixth Division's holdings were.

The guards led us onto the field to the training groups. I was amazed at how fluidly and quietly they trained. I rarely got to see others training, as most of my classes were one on one with instructors or very advanced students tasked with tormenting me, like Melissa Mao. But I had glimpses of other classes which trained as groups and none of them looked as disciplined or powerful as the fully ranked Shinigami of the Sixth Division.

"The sword is always trained first, you can join squad three there, and cycle with them through the disciplines," one of the guards said, bringing us to a group of Shinigami who were doing their Zanpakutō training. Kūkaku and I took wooden swords from the rack and fell in line behind Squad Three. I fell into rhythm quickly as it was the familiar and mind numbing exercise of repeating the same move a hundred times before going on to the next then to the one after. The Shinigami believed strongly in repetition.

After a while someone broke off from the line and came to us. He bowed to Kūkaku and then stepped forward to correct her movements. Knowing my skills with a sword were not impressive I was a little nervous when he stood next to me to observe me. He didn't say a word and simply stared at my movements. Suddenly he shot out his hand and grabbed my sword at a downward arc. "That was perfect, now repeat that. You are not consistent. If you strike once it should be perfect, if you strike a thousand times it should be perfect a thousand times," he said and moved off. I shared a relieved smile with Kūkaku; the squad leader had made both of us a little uncomfortable.

I lost track of time as we moved with squad three from one discipline to the other. I was learning from them things that I hadn't picked up on in my own lessons. I realized that if I would be better at the Shinigami arts if my instructors gave me time to adjust to new skills. Unfortunately I'd already learned that their task was to set me up for failure and yet expect me to succeed. I had the head of Shinigami, the Captain Commander, to thank for that. It wasn't until we were on the last training unit at the Kidō practice range that someone came from us. It was well into the afternoon by then and both Kūkaku and I were much less presentable than we had started out in the morning.

We were brought to the veranda outside a room where I was told to announce myself and enter in five minutes, while Kūkaku was taken away for refreshments. I could have really used a drink and didn't have to pretend to be jealous when she stuck her tongue out at me in triumph and left for food. I counted in my head and, when I thought it had been five minutes, I knocked on the door and opened it while staying seated in the Seiza position. Seeing the glimpse of a white over-robes that signified a captain rank, I bowed at the waist and called out, "Potter Harry, you called for me, Captain Kuchiki." I waited for an answer but it didn't come. Protocol dictated that I stay bowed until I was recognized. I really despised protocol, especially when it made me feel like a house elf.

"Come in."

I stood up and finally took measure of the man; a thick moustache dominated the ageing face from which disinterested eyes looked back at me. His white hair was long and pulled back and a silver scarf was wrapped around his neck even in the summer heat. He wasn't a physically imposing man but he still had the kind of presence that would make anyone think twice about crossing him. The office we were in was simple and unadorned, an open space with a small writing table and some utensils. He stood by the one window which looked onto the gardens.

"Captain Kuchiki," I said, by way of greeting.

"Potter Harry, I have been waiting to ask you, why did you save my grandson's life?" the old captain asked in a measured tone.

I frowned and felt as though he were blaming me for doing something wrong. "He's a child, he was dying. He should never have been on the battlefield. I did what any decent person would have done."

"No," said the captain, his expression unchanged and judging. "Most would not have made the choice you did. Was it the only reason you saved his life?"

I admit I didn't answer right away like I should have, like a younger me would have, saying that of course that was my only reason, because the truth was different. "No…that wasn't my only reason. I didn't want my friend in trouble for killing a child either. She wouldn't have forgiven herself and the Shinigami would have executed her." The old captain nodded and turned away from me to look outside his window. My meeting with him was not going the way I expected it to. I thought he would be pleased with me, instead I felt like I was on trial.

"Tell me, Potter Harry, why does someone with little strength walk the Bridge of Despair accepting certain death," he asked.

I stepped closer to hear him better and came to stand just behind his desk. I felt like I was invading his privacy but he would just have to forgive me. "Someone for whom the prize at the end of the bridge is worth facing death," I answered.

Captain Kuchiki snorted softly, somehow making it an elegant sound. "And why do you think becoming a Shinigami is a prize?"

I shrugged even though he couldn't see me. "Because I hope it explains what I am doing here and what these powers I have mean."

"You could have gained these answers without going to the lengths you did, Potter Harry. No, there is another reason," said he.

"I don't know why I'm here, Captain Kuchiki," I said, surprising myself with the confession. "I need to know how I got here and for what purpose. There is only desperation and violence in Rukongai, there were no answers there."

We stood in silence, a state that seemed to fall on everything around the old captain. I could sense that he took his own time in everything and didn't feel the need to make others comfortable around him. Despite myself, I fell into the quietness of the moment, watching the colors of the garden revealed through the window.

"There is something more that troubles you; otherwise your heart would be at peace after becoming a cadet at the Spiritual Arts Academy. Do you know what that is?" he asked as though he already knew the answer.

In essence my answers to him had been true, I did feel at sea but I couldn't go into details of my fight with Voldemort, the choice Dumbledore had given me, and the subsequent transportation to Rukongai. However, I was curious as to what the old captain thought the answer was. "No, I suppose I do not know."

He turned from his window and brought his heavy gaze to bear on me; it was difficult to hold his eyes. He said, "Your power frightens you. Whatever your Zanpakutō is, you fear it. Is that not why you only used it sparingly in your entrance exam." I must have given away that he was right because he nodded to himself and again looked away from me. I didn't realize until his eyes weren't on me anymore that I was holding my breath and that a cold sweat had broken out on my brow. "You revile the reflection of your soul, Potter Harry," he declared in his quiet way.

"How do you know?" I blurted before I could stop to think.

"I am in your debt for saving my grandson's life, so I will give you this advice only once: Do not let your Zanpakutō rule your heart. Only when you have succeeded in calming your heart will you find your purpose." There was a note of import in his words, as though he rarely gave advice.

I stood, undecided and hesitant. I was pretty certain the meeting was over but I hadn't had an opportunity to ask him for access to his libraries. The man apparently felt that his advice was worth the price of a life, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch that he would find any request of mine too bold. "Thank you for your words, Captain Kuchiki," I said finally. "Would you mind if I spoke with you from time to time?"

He didn't say anything but after a while he nodded. I had overstepped, I knew, but I couldn't just let slip an opportunity to know the man who could see inside me so easily. I bowed to his back as was expected and left. It wasn't much later I realized that I was relieved that the Kuchiki family hadn't wanted something from me. On the whole I felt much better about them than the Fong.

A great weariness came over me as I left the 6th Division; I felt as if I was becoming more and more entwined in the affairs of the afterlife than finding my way out of it. Ginrei Kuchiki's advice was great for someone who wanted to become a great Shinigami. That used to be my dream because I saw it as a way out of Rukongai. But the longer I stayed in Seireitei I found that it was as much as a trap as the outreaches, just better dressed. The Fong clan with their bloody laws, the teachers at the Academy with their orders to break me, and the Sixth Division captain with his cryptic advice that would lead me to spending more time meditating on Izanami - somehow none of these seem to be taking me towards the goal of getting the hell back to life.

I sighed looking at Kūkaku walking beside me silently. And then it was people like her who were pulling me back, forcing me to acknowledge their connection to me. I couldn't simply do as I pleased when I knew that I had this irreverent but loyal friend who worried for me. That is nothing to say of my other criminal and faithful friend-in-arms, Rangiku. Seeing the way the Fong operated and even the echoes of Retsu's words that the path of a Shinigami was one where my values had no place tired me. I felt like a child who had stupidly tied his hopes upon something to deliver him, and inevitably it had failed me. Being a Shinigami was taking me away from my goal not bringing me closer to it. But I knew little else about the world of the afterlife. The Shinigami was where the power lived - and they were the only ones who could visit the living. I wondered if all I ever would have would be stolen visits to my former life and be stuck the rest of the time unraveling cryptic words of old men, meeting the expectations of irrational of women, and feeling guilty about thinking of leaving my new friends.

I was a fool. I'd let the Academy suck me into a feeling of hope and happiness. Yes, there was food to be had without murder, a place to rest without a knife in the back…and Rangiku was thriving. But underneath tit the people were still as strange as those outside the great white walls of the city of Seireitei. I'd let myself forget that I was at war with this world. After the meeting with the Fong I vowed I'd never forget that again.

"Harry-kun, what did Captain Kuchiki say to you? You seem upset," Kūkaku asked, now walking with the swagger that was more familiar. I supposed she had relaxed knowing the meeting was behind her.

"He wanted to know why I saved his grandson," I said.

Kūkaku burst out laughing. "Even old Kuchiki doesn't think Byakuya is worth saving. Really, Harry-kun, why did you save that pompous brat?" She continued to laugh, not really looking for an answer, I felt.

"Then he gave me some advice…about my Zanpakutō." I looked at her when her laughter cut off abruptly.

"So he knows," she said with a frown.

I shrugged. "Not the details but he knew more than I thought someone who hasn't seen me like you and Rangiku have could know."

She nodded. "So his advice…it was advice, right? Not a threat or a warning?" she asked.

"No, why do you think he would have threatened me?" I asked. Ginrei Kuchiki was aloof, he didn't seem the type who would lower himself to frighten a cadet.

"Captain Kuchiki does not just help anyone. Well, you saved Byakuya's life, so maybe that was his way of repaying the debt.. I didn't think a Kuchiki could be nice," she said, skipping ahead, apparently no longer concerned.

"Why what are Kuchikis usually like?" I was curious.

Kūkaku spun on her heel to face me, she raised her face so she was looking down her nose at my from her shorter stature. With half lidded eyes she gave me a cold look. "Do not presume to question the character of a Kuchiki. My handkerchief alone is more valuable than your life. Be gone before you befoul the air I breathe." And then she broke down laughing.

I swatted her head as I walked by her but she had made me smile. It was hard to see her belonging to a family as noble as the Kuchiki, but apparently that was the truth. I'm sure all the other nobles were fed up with her.

~ooo~

It was as if my brooding thoughts from earlier that day had needed reinforcement from another live example. I stood in the alley that separated the girls barracks from the men's. At the far end Rangiku and my minions were being held down with binding Kidō. Surrounding them stood some cadets I had seen around the Academy who most seemed to give a wide berth. They were our seniors, that much I knew, but had no idea what year, At least one of them had a spirit in his sword, so he was fairly advanced, but the others still had only dead blades.

They had picked a poor day to test me. Annette was out to play, bringing with her the fury of the night. I didn't need them to say any words. I knew why they were there. I knew why they smiling smugly at me. I knew that if they didn't release Rangiku they were going to get their wish and find out exactly why a nobody from Rukongai was in Class Zero.

"I got your message, what do you want?" I asked, hoping that by some miracle they would just back off. The pounding in my temples as Annette's anger bubbled was darkening my vision.

"Bow to me dog," said their leader, a pretty boy with long flowing hair and his Zanpakutō out where no one could miss it.

Rangiku laughed behind him. "You make a terrible thug."

The man had drawn his sword and sliced Rangiku's cheek open before any of us had even realized it. Rangiku bit down her scream and smiled. The blood dripped from her cheek to the dust in the street. I found myself transfixed by it. Thirst made my throat ache as did the madness of the child of night in my soul. It was a terrible time for Annette to awaken, but here she was, and here was Rangiku's blood, and men just waiting to be devoured, foolishly antagonizing me.

"You and your little gang need to know your place. From now on you work for me, you may call me Reid-sama," the boy said. By age he looked to be in his twenties, who knew how many afterlife years he had under his belt. But it mattered little, Rangiku had been right, he was a novice at intimidation

_They question your place, Master. Annette whispered beside me_. She looked radiant in her black gown and golden hair. It was stunning that someone so innocent looking had the kind of anger and thirst running in her veins that I felt. _You should not be lenient, Master. It is always best to make an example of the first one so the rest will not dare oppose your rule._

"Boss, don't give in. Forget about us. We are ready to die for you!" Tokiwa yelled from his kneeling position, earning himself a kick in the face that sent him sprawling on his back. Rangiku whipped her head toward him and the blood on her cheek flew. I smelled it and my heart thudded like a drum in my head.

It was too late.

Those poor schoolboys had no understanding of what slept fitfully in my sword.

I unsheathed Izanami and held her out to my side. "Slake your thirst,," I said with a shaking voice. Annette's rage was making my teeth ache. The sword's blade became translucent, and the thready leaf-like veins on it shone.

"Are you mad?" Reid shouted. "Releasing your Zanpakutō inside Seireitei is a crime."

"Your blood," I gasped out, trying desperately to hold on to reason. "You owe me a tithe!" I shouted, not knowing where those words came from. "Give him the stolen kiss, Izanami."

My sword was plunged inside the upperclassman's heart before either of us had realized. I pulled it out leaving no wound behind. He fell back, tearing open his robes to feel his chest and laughed in shock when he saw he wasn't hurt.

I waited for him to stand up, to draw his own blade, to look down at me with all the arrogance he could muster. "What a useless sword, you didn't even cut me. Now let me show you the weapon of your betters!" he shouted dramatically and drew his own sword.

Still I waited. But when his arm began shaking and the sword fell from his hand, I finally drew his attention to my blade.

"Do you see the blood slithering up my Zanpakutō? Do you see that she is drinking it in?" I asked and stalked to him. The blood groove on Izanami was colored with his life's blood. The pounding in my head was getting better, and thirst constricting my throat was easing - it was a relief to feed.

Annette was happy and I was happy.

Reid-sama looked at me in terror.

"And now I will drink up your gang."

Annette was the Queen of the Night and so it folded me in her embrace, hiding me from the rushing upperclassmen. I relished the look of blank shock in their eyes when they lost sight of me, only seeing me when the hilt of my sword was sticking out of their bodies. Seven strong they were and all fell, unwounded but no longer able to keep their blood in their own veins.

My eyes turned to Rangiku and the smear of red on her cheek sang to me. I reached out with a hand breaking the binding spell on her and summoning her to me. She walked to me but as if she was fighting each step. My minions were shouting at me, perhaps to stop me but they didn't understand my need. Rangiku was cradled in my arm her neck exposed and on offer. I bent my head with my tongue reaching out to clean her cheek.

Something silken soft suddenly wrapped itself around my neck and yanked me back. I fell on the ground but sprung back up with an alacrity that surprised both me and my attacker. I only saw the intense amber eyes of my attacker before lightning danced on the cloth wrapped around my neck and electrocuted me into oblivion.

~0000~

A wave of self pity wanted to break free of my chest and go pouring into the world followed by cold detachment and an emotion so faint even I couldn't understand what it was or what it meant.

"Stop!" My throat was dry and my voice cracked. I couldn't take the feeling of Annette's self pity or Izanami's ambiguous emotions. They didn't understand, of course, and I only felt surprise from them at my plea.

I almost didn't want to open my eyes and face whatever now lay in front of me. I was weary, defeated, and still painfully thirsty for blood.

"Begging your Zanpakutō to stop will not help. You are its master, something you never learned," an old man's voice said.

I opened my eyes to find the cat I had been chasing the day before sitting on a rock, facing me. Broad straps of black cloth were wrapped around me and hammered into the ground with cinder blocks to keep me pinned. I struggled against them but soon realized that the cloth was not just cloth and the small cinder blocks were more than they appeared to be. Demon Magic of some sort had been used to trap me.

I didn't recognize the place; it could have been a stone's throw from civilization or in the outlands but I had no way to tell. Large boulders, as tall as men, sat on lush green grass. When the wind blew, it looked as if the grass were a green sea beating against the boulders. In another circumstance, it may have been a beautiful place to lose myself in.

"Show yourself," I said, casually, and looked around for the old man.

"Are you blind? I'm right here," the cat said. "Yes, I'm a cat and I speak."

Perhaps it was the weariness and the thirst, or the fact that I am a wizard and the strange should be the norm for me, but I didn't react in the way the cat expected me to. And it wasn't pleased.

"Don't try to act unimpressed. I know if I hadn't tied you down you would be leaping out of your skin in fright," the cat said in an old man's voice.

"I've met animagi before…although, none that could talk in their animal form. I can't tell you how happy I am to meet you," I said, cracking a smile despite the discomfort I was in. The cat regarded me like I was something very odd - I could tell this by the widening eyes and the head cocked to the side in a disturbingly human gesture. "I've spent two years looking for our kind," I continued, revealing I was a wizard too.

"Our kind?" the cat said. "You're not a talking cat."

I frowned. "No, I never learned to be an animagus. My father and godfather were animagi, though."

"Your father was a talking cat? That's just strange," the cat said.

My happiness at finally speaking to the animagus was beginning to rapidly evaporate. "No…he was a stag actually, but I don't think he could talk."

"You're the son of a mute stag…that's worse than having a talking cat for a father," the cat said. "You are an odd one, aren't you?"

I have met some odd creatures and had some unusual experiences, but the cat was the most frustrating. "Look, you're the first wizard I've met since I landed in this Hell, can you untie me so we can have a proper conversation?"

"What's a wizard?" the cat asked.

If I could have cocked my head to stare at it in disbelief, I would have, however the magical straps of black cloth had me stuck in one position. "You're a wizard…someone who does magic? That's how you turn into a cat." I said slowly.

"Shinigami do magic, they're not called wizards. I'm a cat…well a special cat," he said.

"You're a human who can turn into an animal using magic. That's an animagus. Look, I already know, will you stop screwing around? It's not like you're breaking the statue of secrecy, we're both dead and there's no one else here." Black spots appeared before my eyes and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as the rage from the vampire queen flowed into my veins. It worsened my blood thirst and I just wanted to curl into myself but couldn't because of the cursed magic binding me in place.

The curious tone was gone from the cat's voice when it spoke after a few moments, "I don't know why you think I'm a human or why you believe we are the same, or any nonsense you've been spewing. What I know is that you are controlled by your sword and you are dangerous to the peace of Soul Society. I have seen your strength, a containment cell will not hold you." It paused in its speech, and I could hear the regret in what it said next, "I am sorry, Potter Harry, today I will spill your blood."

With my teeth gritted against the fury and thirst I had an epiphany. "Blood," I said. "It's always about blood. Isn't that what you said, Izanami?" I laughed in sudden triumph. "Cat! Go ahead, as long as you use my Zanpakutō, I will have no regrets." It's hard to tell what a cat is thinking, but I thought I had stunned it, if its silence was any measure. It leapt off the boulder and trotted around me so that it was hidden from my sight.

The old man's voice came from behind me. "I will grant you your wish, it's the least I can do for protecting my friend. Prepare yourself." A foreign reiatsu spiked around me as some magic was performed. I heard Izanami sliding out of her sheath and smiled.

"Drink your master's blood, Annette," I said.

Something struck me lightning fast in the back. I gasped and saw the tip of my sword pierce through my chest, gleaming in the light from the clear blue sky in red blood. Before I could even feel the pain of the fatal wound, I saw my blood absorbed into the vein-like grooves on my sword and disappear. Finally, the sharp piercing agony sliced into me, and I prayed that my gambit had paid off.

Annette appeared in my vision, all sweet white gown and innocent eyes. Her little lips were stained with fresh blood, and the smile on them was full of adoration and pride. "The blood of the sovereign prevails, my master. Thank you for the gift." She bowed and disappeared; I was suddenly no longer thirsty, mad, or in pain.

There was, however, my Zanpakutō impaling me and the Kidō magic holding me in place. Not to mention a cat that had decided to perch itself on said blade.

"Why aren't you bleeding anymore, son of the mute stag?" he asked.

I smiled. "Annette, cut me out of this."

Annette appeared and daintily flicked the cat off the sword, with all the gentleness of a wrecking ball. Swiftly, she pushed the Zanpakutō all the way in so that the guard, shaped in the likeness of a lily flower's petals, pierced my back as well, spreading the numbing feeling of Izanami's healing magic. Annette's snowy white hair dusted the ground as she bent to break the magical cinder blocks, which were clamping down the cloth that bound me.

I began to stand when the magical binding fell apart and was saved from the awkward maneuver of removing a sword from my back, as Annette, being a considerate handmaiden obliged and presented it to me. I brushed my hand on the suddenly absent exit wound on my chest.

"My mistress sends her love, Master," Annette said with a heartwarming smile.

"Of course she does. " I ran my hand through Annette's thick white locks. "She's drunk on my blood right now."

"She also said not to kill the cat with the sword, my mistress has no taste for cat blood." Annette looked up at me, an apology written on her face.

I rolled my eyes and sighed at the general inequities of my life. "Let's go see if it's still alive after getting bludgeoned by your finger, Annette."

"Yes, Master."

"Call me Harry, Annette."

"Yes, Master.

)))0000(((

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	11. Chapter 11

**Unusual Meetings**

Shiohin Yoruichi woke up groggily and quickly took measure of her surroundings. She was in a dormitory room of the Spiritual Arts Academy; one that did not have an occupant, she noted. Beside a bed there wasn't anything else in the room. She tried to stand up but only managed to flop to her side, finding her leg constricted somehow. She was still in her cat form and there were white bandages running from her middle to one of her back legs.

The door opened and Potter Harry entered with a saucer and bottle in his hands. Yoruichi backed up but the bandages still tripped her up. He kneeled across from her and poured milk in the saucer. The way water was beading on the bottle told Yoruichi that it was definitely chilled, just the way she liked it best.

Carefully he laid the saucer right in front of her where she was crouched on the bed. "Go ahead, you need to build up your strength," he said. Yoruichi dipped her head and lapped up the delicious milk, realizing that she was starving. He chuckled and said, "What? You don't think I poisoned it?"

Yoruichi purred contently. "If you were going to kill me you would have done it already. Poison isn't your style." She continued drinking the milk. "Can I have some more?"

He reached over and poured more in the saucer. "You are very calm for a prisoner," he said.

"And you are very kind for a jailer, Potter Harry. You healed me, sheltered me, and fed me." She stared at him fixedly for a moment before going back to her milk.

He did not respond to her but simply watched her while he rested against the wall of the room. Yoruichi finished the milk, feeling much more refreshed and prepared for the confrontation with the first year cadet. Seeing how he had cared for her, she imagined it wasn't to be a physical challenge but a mental one. She decided to take the initiative, "So why did you save me after I tried to kill you?" Yoruichi watched the expression on his face carefully; he seemed bored or maybe he was just tired.

He shrugged and said, "Who knows really why?"

Yoruichi licked her paws to buy time for her next question. "Just like I know that you won't poison someone, I also know you won't let someone who's tried to kill you live. Your underlings, Tokiwa and his boys, talk about your ruthlessness all the time."

He smiled at that, a wry and amused expression. "It's probably not smart to believe rumors, cat. I can see it bothers you not to know why I let you live, so let's just say I have some questions only you can answer."

"I beat you easily before, Potter-san. I see you don't have your Zanpakutō even. Do you really think you can make me do anything I don't want to?" Yoruichi said and projected her reiatsu; even if it was weaker in her cat form, it was enough to rip apart the bandages on her, leaving her free to revert to her human form. She was a little annoyed to see that Potter was not impressed. He had that same bored tired expression he had been sporting since he'd come into the room.

"Old cat, you're welcome to attack me again if you like," he said and yawned displaying his ennui.

Yoruichi decided that she would at least scratch his face to make him take her seriously. She wasn't yet ready to change into her human form and escalate matters. She leapt from the bed with claws extended and smacked into an invisible barrier at the border of the bed. The air shimmered blue to show her Kidō symbols inscribed on the bed sheets, the wall the bed was flush against, and in the air as well; she was boxed in. Throwing caution to the wind she tried to change into her human form but failed when a terrible pain shot through her bones. There was another Kidō spell stopping her transformation. Until that moment, Yoruichi had not known such a spell existed.

She mewled in pain on her back. "That was a dirty trick."

"You tried to kill me, cat. It's smart to control your movements," Potter said. "I didn't really know how you would react when you woke up, but this was the worst case scenario, so I planned for it."

Yoruichi righted herself, feeling the shock of the barrier Kidō spell wear off quickly. She stared at the boy who had her at his mercy until she figured out a way to break the Kidō cell he had her trapped in. "I overreacted, you had me at a disadvantage and a cat never likes to be in that position."

He nodded with a tired smile. "That's ok. I would've done the same thing. So now to the questions I have. Was the only reason you tried to execute me that I couldn't control my sword?"

Yoruichi nodded her fuzzy head. "But it looks like I don't have a reason to do that any longer, since you dominated your sword just as I stuck it through your back."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, that was very pleasant, thank you. So now that my sword is no longer a problem, do you still intend to execute me?"

Yoruichi licked her lips; a gesture of amusement of her cat self. "If I say yes, you would just kill me within your trap right now. If I say no, you would have no reason to believe me, because I would say anything to get out of this situation."

"Yeah, I guess that was a pretty stupid question. Well, next one then, I'm guessing you're part of the secret corps since you were spying on me all this time, and I also think that you were the only one on my case because no one has showed up looking for you since you disappeared three days ago. Am I right?"

Yoruichi was surprised to hear she had been unconscious that long. The hit she had taken had not been that hard. "I was the only one watching you. Whether I am from the secret corps or not you can keep guessing about. Now answer me a question, how is it that you're still here? There must have been an investigation into who killed those students."

"They're still alive," he said, but didn't elaborate.

"That only makes your situation worse. They would've reported who injured them so badly," Yoruichi insisted.

He shrugged again and cleaned his glasses on his robes in affected casualness. "Things just worked out. They're alive and working for Tokiwa now. No one else found out anything."

Yoruichi was burning with curiosity; obviously there was more to it than that, Potter as much admitted it with his body language if not with his words. If she escaped she would definitely find out how he managed to cover up what he had done.

"I have one more question for you, then you can go. Tell me, and please be honest, do you know anything about witches or wizards? Are you one yourself?" he asked with open desperation.

Yoruichi curbed her immediate impulse to be flippant about the question like she had been the first time he had asked her. She realized that their positions had been reversed since then. At that time _he_ had been her prisoner. "No, Potter-san, I do not know what wizards or witches are, nor am I one. I am sorry that I am not the one you're looking for."

He sighed and softly hit the back of his head against the wall in disappointment. "Aye, I had a feeling my luck wasn't going to turn for the better."

Yoruichi stood on the bed and asked, "Will you let me go now?"

He came out of his sad reverie and stood as well. "Yes, but before you leave, you should know that if I die you will die as well. I have cast a special binding Kidō. It took me two days to craft in your blood. Visit me once a month to make sure you continue living. If you don't the spell will activate by itself."

Yoruichi felt her blood turn to ice and she hardly noticed when he dissipated the Kidō cell he had trapped her in. "You bastard, what if you're killed during your training or by a Hollow?" She growled.

He turned his tired eyes at her and gave her a look of loathing. "You said yourself that it's not like me to let anyone live who has tried to kill me. Unfortunately I can't kill you, which leaves me in a bad position. I can ensure you won't try to kill me again by making certain that you'll die with me. So this is the only way I can feel safe, cat."

He began walking away but Yoruichi vaulted off the bed and stood in his path, blocking the door frame. "Why didn't you just kill me outright?" She was beyond enraged but as the one who would one day command all the Secret Corps she understood well the value of information and knowing the motivations of the enemy. If she was going to find a way out of the binding on her, she needed to know Potter's mind.

He scoffed and smiled as if the question amused him. "You agreed to my dying request to use my sword to kill me because you felt you owed me for saving your friend's life. Now, I don't know who that friend is, but I have a very good guess who it might be, and I don't want to bring her grief." With that explanation he left walking down the dormitory hallway.

"Such a soft heart!" Yoruichi mocked behind his back. She ran to a window, planning on rushing back to her manor. She needed to find a way to contact an old friend, one who was the most powerful Kidō master she knew.

As she ran through the Academy grounds fear gnawed at her. She had seen Potter Harry's skill with Kidō at his entrance exam. He was a master himself no doubt. There were few who advanced to Level 60 spells and only the elite could execute Level 80 Demon Magic. Potter Harry had performed both at the exam, and performed the higher level magic without incantation; an ability which was rare even amongst Kidō masters.

The small hope in Yoruichi's heart that Potter was bluffing began to die. She could believe that he had crafted such a magic, after all he _did_ look as if he had stayed up two days with his slow movements and dark circles under his eyes.

She cursed herself for her oversight. She had been so focused on the danger his sword represented, she had forgotten about the power of the boy. And now the princess of the Shiohin Clan, heir apparent to the clan and the Secret Corps was bound to the life of a ruthless Shinigami-to-be from the outreaches of Rukongai.

There was one hope, however, she thought. Shiba Kukaku was their mutual friend, and he had spared her life for Kukaku's sake. Maybe she could gain his trust through Kukaku and have him release the magic he had cursed her with.

The princess ran breathlessly, reminded of mortal fear for the first time in three hundred years.

0000

I sensed the spiritual signature of the cat animagus leave the Academy grounds and sighed in relief. Dealing with that situation had taken more energy than I had to spare. The consequences of the last few days of bad choices loomed, so I decided that I deserved a little distraction and took the path to the Academy's healing ward. It was the day of Akihasa-senpai's release and I was curious to see if she had recovered well. Her classmates had thought that she would want to see me.

One wing of the third floor of the Academy housed the healing ward. I saw less and less people as I made my way to it for the first time. I imagined it was because not many people had a reason to be around the healing ward and those few there were quiet out of consideration for patients. The sudden and loud steps of someone coming my way startled me; it seemed the man was not concerned that he was probably disturbing someone. He was looking at the floor ahead of him as he stomped, probably caught up in some thought. When it became obvious he was going to run right into me I called: "Watch out."

He snapped his head up and glared at me from a white painted face, his yellow eyes protruded, and his teeth were bared in anger or madness. Instinctively, I stepped back and my hand went to the hilt of my sword. He passed me by doing nothing more than shooting me a hateful look. I stared after him and noticed the gloves he was wearing which stretched all the way to his elbows; they were gloves that healers wore to protect themselves from reiryoku contamination. So the man was a healer, yet he wore a student uniform. Putting him out of my mind for the moment I walked around the corner to find yet another person rushing down the hall. He wore the black uniform of a Shinigami and also the healer gloves which Retsu had never thought to make me use when she was training me.

"Did you see Mayuri-san walk by?" he asked, agitatedly.

"If you mean the one with the white painted face and yellow eyes, yes. He went that way." I pointed over my shoulder, now more curious about what was happening.

"Thank you. If you're here for help, I can't take care of you right now. Come back later," he said brushing past me.

"Just here for Akihisa-senpai," I said, unable to keep the annoyed tone out of my voice. Some healer he was, turning away a patient like that.

"Good!" He shouted back, "Make sure she gets to class safely." And then he turned the corner and was gone from sight too.

"What the Hell?" I wondered out loud to myself. Finding myself standing alone like an idiot in the once again hushed hallway I decided to go meet Akihisa-senpai, whose care had been committed to me so callously by the healer.

The healing ward was divided up by fusuma walls, so I randomly began to slide them to check into rooms. It seemed that the ward was fairly empty. I was peaking around a divider, making sure I wasn't walking in on someone, when someone tapped my shoulder. I whirled and found myself face to face with the frowning eyes of Akihisa-senpai. It was the first time I was seeing her in daylight but my first impressions of her still held true: she was of medium height, with brown hair cut below her chin, with a plain and clear face. In the morning, however, her brown eyes were very large and uncomfortably expressive, because right then they were expressing deep suspicion.

"Why are you peeping, Potter-san?" she asked angrily.

"I was looking for you, Akihisa-senpai. I heard you were being released today," I said with a smile to cover my embarrassment.

Her eyes narrowed. "So you were trying to peep on me?"

"Uh...you have the wrong idea. I was just looking for you to see how you're doing." I raised my hands in an 'I'm innocent' gesture.

She smiled and nodded. "Good. I didn't want to believe all those bad rumors about you, Potter-san. Thank you for coming to see me but I have to go to class." She turned on her heel with that and rapidly started walking away.

"Wait! The healer said I should stay with you to make sure you get to class alright." I ran up to her and she gave me a pleasant smile as I fell in step with her. We left the ward and started making our way to the classrooms wing of the Academy. I felt the silence was awkward and tried to think of something to say but she didn't seem to mind. "So, how are you feeling, Akihisa-senpai?" She froze in her tracks and bowed so fast I had to leap back to save myself from her head colliding in my chest.

"You saved my life, Potter-san. Thank you so much. As your senpai, it should have been me who was watching out for you, forgive me," she said with deep emotion, staying bowed at the waist.

"Senpai, please, it was my duty, you don't have to thank me." I awkwardly guided her to stand by her shoulders.

She looked at my hands on her shoulder and frowned at me. "Potter-san, it's inappropriate to touch a lady you are not familiar with."

I jerked my hands back as if burned. "Sorry."

She smiled happily. "See? You really are a kind person. I keep telling everyone you're not a raping vagabond from the outlands."

I was a little stunned at her observation and it took me a few seconds before I chuckled awkwardly and said, "Thank you, I think."

She nodded and briskly made her to the classrooms, not giving a sign that only a few days ago she had been gutted by a creature of nightmares. Shinigami, much like wizards and witches, are surprisingly resilient beings.

"Potter-san, why do I hear so many bad things about you?" she asked curiously.

I shrugged. "I don't know, Akihisa-senpai. My friends tell me that I don't know how to show respect. I don't mean to offend people. Honestly, I am too busy to think of anyone really."

She nods. "You are the only student in Class Zero, Potter-san. It's an honor, you should behave better than everyone since they look up to you. You're supposed to be the best of the new students at the Academy." She shoots me a sidelong look which seems very teacher-like.

"Thanks for the advice," I chuckle. She is such a socially awkward girl to be so forward with someone she doesn't really know. She was a well meaning person, however, as I came to learn the better I got to know her.

"I know you're a good person, Potter-san. The problem is that you don't have a senpai watching out for you or a class representative to teach you the rules. So from now on I will take care of you." She reached out and patted my head in a very patronizing manner, but the warm smile on her face stopped my rebuke.

"I don't really care what other people think of me, Akikisa-senpai, you don't have to worry about me." I picked up the pace a little bit, hoping to bring the girl to her classroom as fast as possible.

She clucked her tongue in a disapproving manner. "But I care what others think of you, Potter-san."

"You are too kind," I said uncomfortably, I hoped she wasn't going to ask me on a date any time soon.

"You can blame them for not trying to know the truth about you, but you have a responsibility to be the best person you can be as well, Potter-san. You are the pride of the Academy and one of my precious juniors," she said.

Ah! I understood: now that she had taken me under her wing she would protect my reputation as if it were her own. It was almost charming how seriously seniors took the care of those juniors they had claimed responsibility for. It would be nothing short of unforgivably disrespectful to deny Akihisa-senpai now. I bowed shortly in response.

She paused in front of a door and fixed her uniform. I stepped forward to slide the door open for her. The history instructor motioned me in, but I stood aside for Akihisa-senpai to enter ahead of me. "Excuse me, sensei," she said and the room hushed.

"It's Akihisa the dunce…I thought the Hollows ate her," someone said not quietly enough. I whipped my head toward the source but could not tell who had said it. There were some murmurs as Akihisa blushed and I glowered.

"Not a problem, Akihisa-san, please take your seat. Potter-kun, what did you need?" The grey haired man asked me kindly.

"I'm just escorting Akihisa-senpai, sensei. I'll be taking my leave now," I said and bowed.

"Wow, they don't trust Akihisa the dunce to even walk to her own class, she gets an escort!" That same someone commented and the class erupted in snickering.

"Please, do not call Akihisa-senpai that name in my presence." I came out of my bow and faced the class tapping the hilt of my sword meaningfully.

"Quiet everyone. Potter-kun, fighting is not allowed outside of-" The instructor was saying but was interrupted.

"Oi! Who the Hell do you think you are to challenge us?" A grown man stood up from his seat in the middle of the room.

Akihisa stood as well. "There won't be any fighting. Potter-kun, please, as member of class zero you have to set an example. Apologize to the teacher." She pointed her finger at me imperiously.

From any other person I wouldn't tolerate that, but seeing as I was the one trying to defend her, it wouldn't do to not listen to her in front of her classmates who were only too happy to make fun of her. I bowed again once to Akihisa-senpai and then to the instructor, "My apologies for disrupting the class. Please, excuse me. Akihisa-senpai, take care, and please call on me if you need anything."

I took off hearing the instructor attempt to settled his class which was practically buzzing now. The rumor mill would be sending around tales of my latest altercation, I was sure.

0000

That night was my date with Tohsaka Yukika, the young woman in Class One of first years. The peach blossom festival was celebrated at night, where people walked amongst the trees and admired the blooming pink flowers. I was in my normal school uniform but everyone else was dressed up for the occasion. My date, Yukika was wearing a pale green yukata with a pink sash tied at her back. Her silky blond hair was held in place by two bone white combs to fall in a symmetrical sheet behind her. She turned her face up to me and smiled softly, pleased that I was gazing at her. I blushed and looked away, finding it hard to meet her deep black eyes. The way her hair had streamed to the side and exposed her slender neck when she looked up at me was inviting a caress; she was a beautiful woman and she knew it well.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Potter-san. Isn't the moon beautiful tonight?" she said, taking my arm in her robe covered one.

"Ah, yeah…but all these lamps in the trees are making it hard to look at it," I said distractedly, more focused on the fact that she was touching me. I knew well that there was no way that a woman of her social standing would deign to be romantically interested in someone like me, but I couldn't think rationally faced with her charming looks.

We walked a little more on the cleared paths in the garden of peach blossom trees, watching the trees lit up by lanterns, and pausing to speak to other classmates. Small fires, the lanterns, and the comfortable press of people enjoying themselves, made me feel warm and at ease. It was nice to see all these people act happily and friendly whereas I usually saw them learning to fight monsters or one-man-upping each other. Even Tohsaka Yukika who I counted amongst the most arrogant people in my year was sweet to people that night. It was she who stopped to speak to others, I mostly stood at her side and smiled politely. Sadly, it seemed that people didn't know what to make of me and didn't do more than nod or bow awkwardly to me.

"It is a beautiful night to gaze at the moon and drink, Potter-san. You're right, the lamps are spoiling the view. I know a quiet place where we can enjoy peacefully," she said and tugged me off the path. We walked over tree roots before the ground opened up to small quaint house. On the veranda there were several couples or people sitting by themselves with sake bottles and saucers.

We sat on cushions laid out by servers. A woman offered us drinking saucers and pored us some sake. Yukika-san scooted her cushion close to mine and leaned on me as she settled to watch the moon. We stayed like that for while, letting the whispers of others around envelope us just like the moonlight did. I admit I began to slip and my eyelids fell as I descended into that half-asleep half-awake land. After the days I had had it was a wonderfully relaxing moment and I held on to it for dear life; it was easy there in on the edge of river of dreams to forget everything.

"I'm happy," I said, puzzled by my thought. I didn't know how long it had been that I had been without worry.

"I'm glad to hear it, Potter-san," Yukika said, placing her hand on my arm.

And just like that the magic of the moment was broken. I opened my eyes and took a fortifying sip of sake. "Yukika-san, thank you for coming with me to the festival."

She smiled at me, looking even more beautiful in the soft moonlight. The solid blacks of her eyes were like smoothed stone, closing off anyway for me to see what she was thinking or feeling. I remembered Rangiku's eyes; I had seen them washed under the moonlight just like I saw Yukika-san's then, but there the similarity ended; Rangiku's grey gaze was always full of naked emotion. When I thought of Rangiku openness, the closed off mystery of Yukika-san made me wary.

"It is a pleasure to be here with you right now, but I have to ask, what do you want with me?" I said.

"It was you who asked me to come with you, Potter-san, don't you remember?" she asked and giggled, which only set me on edge.

"Yes, that's true," I said. "But it makes me wonder why a noblewoman such as you would accept my invitation."

"Are you not enjoying yourself, Potter-san? You said you were, so why ask?" She adjusted her legs so she was no longer leaning on me. She took a sip from her saucer and kept looking at the moon as if it was all that mattered.

I sighed, knowing that if I pressed her more it would be impolite. "Yukika-san, you are a noblewoman, you are very beautiful, and I know you don't think much of anyone who is not of noble blood. Accepting my invitation and being seen with me should be beneath you."

"It is odd, you don't seem to have a problem with Shiba Kukaku being in your company, Potter-san," Yukika -san countered, the light tone now absent from her voice.

"I know her motivations and I know that it does not matter to her where I come from." I picked up the bottle to pour more sake for the both of us.

"Thank you." She bowed shortly. "It is not polite to be suspicious of a woman who is willing to bear your company, Potter-san."

"Ah, you see, now that sounds more like you," I said with a smile.

"Why must I do this!" She slammed the saucer down on the floor hard enough to crack it and spill the sake. The couples around us quieted to stare at us but went back to their own conversations soon enough.

I felt a little hot from embarrassment and anger; I had known it was all an act on her part but I had let myself enjoy the charade. The only consolation I had was that I hadn't let it continue. Now for some answers. "Yukika-san, I think a lot of people dismiss anyone who isn't a noble or doesn't come from the inner districts of Rukongai. Many people look at me and think I'm an uncultured thug just because I am from the far districts. That is your mistake, but it doesn't concern me, I go about my own business. Now, however, you have decided that you want something from me and for some reason think that being a little nice to me and dressing up will make me forget about your personality and your views. I don't know if you're aware of this, but you are very vocal about the superiority of the nobles and how people from the far districts shouldn't be in the same classes as you."

We drank in silence for a while and I didn't press her more. That she had not denied anything I had said was confession enough for me. Would she tell me what she wanted or not was really immaterial. All I needed to know was that she wished to use me. So I did like the others are enjoyed the night.

After a long time when couples began to leave the veranda and we were perhaps the last two left she spoke, "Potter-san, how much do you know about noble families?"

"Only what Kukaku has told me."

She scoffed. "Not much then." She quieted again and I began to wonder if perhaps I should get up and take us back to the paths. "Forgive me." She quickly took a gulp of sake, stealing it from my hand. "It was dishonorable of me to act the way I did. I can't believe I'm apologizing to a commoner."

I laughed, finding her self-disgust more amusing than insulting. "Don't worry, I'm as surprised as you are."

She frowned at me and stared. "Potter-san, why are you not upset when I speak my mind?"

_Annette _whispered something in my mind to say to Yukika-san. I smiled to the moon. "Yukika-san, you are more beautiful when you're honest."

She blushed and lowered her eyes; it was possibly the first true womanly thing she had done that night.

"Then I will tell you why I did what I did, because I don't think you will try to use it against me. I am the youngest daughter of a noble house, a noble but poor house. We have a good name but our influence is no longer the same as it once was. I need to distinguish myself in the Shinigami Academy and the Shinigami Court to bring prestige to my family." She finished the sake in my saucer and passed it back to me. I filled it up for her since I was done drinking for that night.

"And to do that you would go low enough to attach yourself to me?" I asked, wondering how that would really help her. Doing well at the Academy was all about your prowess in the Shinigami arts. It wasn't as if she needed me to do her homework for her.

"You will rise in the Courts, it is as clear as the moon tonight, Potter-san. With you I could rise as well, at least, that is what I had thought," she said.

I stood up and gave her a hand which she took with some surprise. She stood as well and I led her into the trees to find the path back to Academy. "Sounds like you have given up on that idea. I would say that is wise."

"Yes, I was wrong about you. You are too suspicious and I can't stand acting like a love struck girl," she said with a lot of annoyance, making me laugh again.

"Please stop being amused at my irritation, Potter-san." She glared.

"You led me around all night long, Yukika-san, it's only fair I get some honest enjoyment out of your company now. Why you would think being my girlfriend will get you ahead I can't understand."

"Your star is rising, Potter-san. You were handpicked by the Captain Commander of the Thirteen Divisions of the Imperial Guards to be the one and only student of Class Zero, even above Class One, the supposed class which is first before all," she said getting angrier and angrier.

"Yeah, I know all this. All it has gotten me is an impossible training schedule and ticked off instructors. It's not all that it's cracked up to be," I said.

"You don't understand, do you? The Captain Commander chose you himself, you won't be allowed to be anything but successful. I bet he already has a vice-captain position for you waiting somewhere," she growled, and I had to catch her as she stumbled over a tree root in her indignation.

"Yukika-san, you do have eyes don't you? Can't you see I am not enjoying any favoritism from the old man? I had to run on the bridge of regret and fight Hollows in my very first week at the Academy. Students don't fight Hollows till their fifth or sixth year!"

"Why do you think it is so infuriating for the rest of us?" she snapped as we came out of the tree cover and onto the path. I noticed that the lanterns had been taken down, the festival had ended. "It almost would have been easier to accept if you were just a political favorite of the Captain Commander with no real skill, but you are powerful and intelligent. It is too much to bear!" She threw up her hands and stormed off.

I, of course, laughed at this. She whirled and raised her hand beginning the incantation of the fireball spell. I rolled my eyes at her and opened my hand palm up with a small fireball already in it. She took one look at it and dropped her hand, clenching it in a fist by her side.

"You are truly unbearable, Potter-san."

I walked to her and took her arm. "Yes, I am." I smiled at her. "Let's get back to the Academy."

She sighed and nodded. "I will allow you to escort me back, it is the least I can do after deceiving you."

Her arrogance really did tickle me. "Yukika-san, you are truly beautiful when you're honest."

Her blush was lovely.

000000

In a few days time all my dates were over and done with; awkward affairs all of them. In fact, going to the festival with Tohsaka Yukika had been the highlight. Of course, I was forgetting that my 'date' with Mao Melissa was still outstanding, she had postponed it to my relief.

I hadn't seen Rangiku for a long time, I was avoiding her after the incident with the upperclassmen. It had been long enough that I was beginning to feel foolish and not a little embarrassed about getting so upset with her. Well, either way, I could no longer avoid her. That evening was the first meeting of the calligraphy club in which she and I had been forcibly conscripted. I did not mind much, my Japanese writing was atrocious and it would be nice to do something besides learning how to kill things.

So I found myself looking forward to our first meeting and making peace with Rangiku. I was pleased when I rounded the corner to the club room and saw her standing there. Her back was to me and she seemed to be staring at something.

"Alright there, Rangiku?" I called out.

She jumped a little at my voice and then rolled her eyes at me. "Do you know what's going on here?" She motioned toward the entrance of the club room which was packed with women of all ages and class levels. They were holding parchment and buzzing with a manic sort of excitement.

"I don't believe it," I whispered. "They look a lot like groupies."

"What?" Rangiku scowled, coming to stand next to me. "What the Hell is a groupie? They look like they're hungry for something."

I hung my head, feeling my excitement about the club disappearing. "Please, please tell me that we don't have some pretty boy in this class. I bet that's who they are here for."

Rangiku punched me in the shoulder lightly and grinned. "See? This is what happens when you ignore me, you start getting silly ideas. They probably have snacks before the meeting starts. That's probably what that scary gleam in their eyes means, I have seen it before, you know."

"Want to bet?" I crossed my arms, knowing Rangiku would never back down from a bet.

She goggled at me. "_You_ want to bet on something? No-Risk-sama?"

"If I'm right you have to go with Mao Melissa in my place on our date." I smirked at her.

"Fine, and if I am right, you…hmmm…you will have to confess your love to Genboro-sensei." She thrust a fist in the air in triumph, happy to have found something humiliating enough for me.

"Dear Merlin, I hope I am right. Let's go and see if we can get in then." I shoved her toward the door and she tried to elbow me. And just like that we were back to our usual antics. I had missed her.

It was a veritable sea of red and white robes of the female cadets of the Spiritual Arts Academy. I was the only man there and was really worried, the women didn't look too rational. Rangiku was pressing forward between the girls with my hand firmly clutched in hers. I was getting to know a lot of those women really _really _well.

"Sorry…didn't mean to touch there…just coming through…oh! that was lovely, sorry! It was an accident!" I tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Freak! Pervert!" was the general chorus around me.

Just about when I thought I was going to die by the hands of what looked like the entire female cadet population an excited scream went up around us and soon everyone was joining in the happy shrieking. And it was this way that I saw Sousuke Aizen for the first time.

The pretty boy had arrived.

0000

Rangiku somehow managed to get to the head of the classroom while I was left with my back to the wall at the end. A scroll of blank paper was spread in front of me with an inkwell and brushes ready for use. That said, I had been there for half an hour and all the activity was centered around women of different ages showing 'Aizen-sama' the calligraphy they had done over the holidays. I was beginning to really hate the simpering and breathy way all of them said his name, as if it was pure ecstasy just to say the name and have him respond.

I sighed and fidgeted not for the first time since I had been there. I wish I could've hated the man more, but he was the furthest thing from an attention seeking predator I'd seen, considering that I had known Gilderoy Lockhart that was saying something. Well, if I couldn't hate him, I could certainly resent him: good looks, broad shouldered, tall, with thick brown hair, the fringe of which threatened to invade the tops of his rectangular glasses. He spoke gently but his voice carried, he was someone who could make himself easily heard without making an effort. Yeah…the women wanted him for him. When it comes to me they just see a convenient stepping stool to fame or higher status. Aizen looked like a nice guy, Cedric Diggory had been a nice guy, I didn't really like either of them.

I smiled to myself when I saw Rangiku plant herself squarely between Aizen's groupies and all but demand attention with her big smile and hair toss. She probably planned it to so that her orange red hair smacked the groupie leader across the face. Aizen was immediately attentive and took a brush to write something on Rangiku's scroll. She made appreciative noises and leaned in close to him. I couldn't hear what she said but it made Aizen chuckle. Well, no matter what he was, he wasn't immune to Rangiku's charms; then again, I don't know if there is anyone who is.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, slowly entering a meditative state. The club looked like a lost cause, at least I could 'calm the river' like Retsu says. I had discovered that after learning how to control Annette's thirst, I had to learn other aspects of her as if she were my Zanpakutō; much like I had been doing when I was trying to learn the name of my sword spirit originally. I had wondered with more than a little excitement if it meant I was going to have two Zanpakutōs but Izanami shot down that hope. Annette's powers were mine to command but they wouldn't be simply turned into a sword for me to swing about. So there I sat, pondering on the feel of Annette's hunger, her boundless joy in the night, the way her magic had felt when I had mesmerized women into offering me their bodies for blood. It was easy for me to forget at times how powerful Annette had been in life, she had been the queen of vampires, an ancient creature of the night herself. Her sweet face and shy subservience were misleading; she could literally consume the mind and blood of her enemies, move within shadows as if she were one herself, enchant thoughts and emotions. In my old life I would have looked at her and would have been disgusted but in the afterlife I understood the value of Annette's magic. As I meditated on her I fell into a place which was at once removed from my surroundings and intimately aware of them. I thought I could hear the heartbeats of the people in the room with me, I imagined I could smell their different scents, the odor of ink, the surprisingly loud sound of scroll paper brushing against floor mats. It was the hyperawareness of the vampire queen which I was tasting, and it was an incredible rush.

I stayed in that state exploring the new sensations and trying to spread my consciousness farther than the room. After a while I began feeling heartbeats leave the room, but I wasn't concerned, knowing Rangiku would come for me when she was ready to go. Finally there was only one other heartbeat than mine in the room and it approached me. I didn't have to open my eyes to know it wasn't Rangiku; I knew the feel of her reiatsu too well to be mistaken.

As I sensed the stranger sit in front of me I opened my eyes and found myself facing Aizen Souske. I could see the pores on his face, hear the sound of saliva as it moved in his mouth when he opened it to speak to me. "Good evening, Potter-san."

I felt the vibrations of sound in the air and smiled. "Good evening, Aizen-san."

"Forgive me for not speaking with you sooner," he said with a smile and a shrug in a 'what can you do?' manner. Maybe it was just my resentment of good looking nice men but I thought his eyes were just a little too sharp and his body gestures not as casual as they seemed.

"You are popular with the girls, it's alright," I said.

"No, no." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "They are just very enthusiastic about calligraphy." This time his smile made the corners of his eyes crinkle.

I arched a brow at his dissembling. Either he was stupid or thought I was stupid, and given what Genboro-sensei had told me about him I somehow doubted the former. "Poor girls, I must give them a hint that they should be even more clear about their intentions. If that is even possible."

His smile fell to a smaller and significantly more believable one. He met my eyes and seemed to take measure of me, I looked blankly back. Then he ran a hand through his hair and laughed softly. "You're not the type to allow people their illusions, are you, Potter-san?"

"I don't mind as long as it's only themselves they intend to deceive. I just don't care for being forced to buy the illusion too," I said. It was odd, I wasn't really the type to call someone a deluded liar usually, maybe something of Rangiku's forthrightness had rubbed off on me. Or maybe it was just what I was reading of Aizen's body language through Annette's hyperawareness that made me feel insulted at the face he was showing me.

"Ah, the girls had warned me that you are not very polite. With that attitude it isn't a surprise you are upsetting the social order of the Spiritual Arts Academy. Perhaps you should consider acting and putting on a better face for the general public," he said. I was pleased to see that he was speaking evenly with me now and not affecting that nice guy pose.

"Acting is one of two things Genboro-sensei wants me to learn from you. He said something about you know how to act so that people don't resent you for your talent." I smiled _my_ amused smile this time.

Aizen's face was a blank but his eyes were still assessing. "Genboro-sensei always has been perceptive," he said. "Tell me Potter-san about your talent, I have heard from the vice-captain of the Healing Division that you can cast a Level-80 spell without incantation."

"The Thunder Canon, yes," I said. His brows rose in honest surprise, as far as I could tell. "Don't worry, it's the only thing I'm good at."

"Ha! I wonder if you expect others to 'buy' that illusion." We shared a smile at that comment. "Casting the Thunder Canon without incantation is unbelievable, I now understand why they resent you."

"It's their problem, not mine."

"That depends on what you wish to do in this life, Potter-san. One needs the good graces of other people to rise in the Thirteen Divisions. I cannot see you settling for a lowly position." He cocked his head to the side, waiting to weigh my response.

I shrugged feeling cagey about sharing my goals. "From what I've seen of Soul Society, power is the only thing that really matters, but you are my senior so I will accept that you perhaps know something I do not."

He shook his head slowly, the gleam in his eye a pleased one. "No, Potter-san, there are very few I have met who truly understand our world. Power is the ultimate rule of Soul Society."

His blood rushed and heartbeat quickened, he was definitely happy, this much his body gave away to Annette's senses. Unfortunately that made me trust him less. "So you seek power?" I asked.

"Isn't it the goal of every dutiful Shinigami?" he asked in return.

I scoffed at his innocent tone. "Of course it is. And, what would you do with greater power?"

"I wonder now…" he said, smiling in pleasure again. "Your reiatsu is very interesting, Potter-san. Your control of it is remarkable, but I can still sense it. Did you know your reiatsu smells of blood?"

That was a very clever diversion from my question, I had to admit. "I did not know," I answered, feeling a little exposed.

He nodded. "I wonder, Potter-san, what would _you_ do with power." He stood up and bowed. "It was a pleasure meeting you. I have to return to my duties now, I hope to see you next week when we meet for calligraphy."

I stood as well and bowed, watching the man leave. Suddenly I felt very naked without my sword. I wish I could've asked Izanami of her opinion of him. Best I could tell, Aizen thought I was a kindred spirit, and I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad one.


End file.
